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Arsenal closes in on unbeaten season
The Premier League title already belongs to Arsenal. Next up is a shot at a landmark: an entire season without a loss.
Preston won 18 games and tied four that season. Arsenal has 24 wins and 10 ties.
The Gunners clinched their second league title in three years Sunday with a 2-2 tie at London rival Tottenham. But the celebrations were muted, with the team intent on an undefeated season.
Arsenal hosts Birmingham on Saturday, then travels to Portsmouth and Fulham before welcoming relegation-threatened Leicester to Highbury.
"To win the league itself is a tremendous achievement, but to go through it unbeaten has never been done before and may never be done again," Arsenal chairman David Dein said Monday.
Dein paid tribute to Arsene Wenger, the first Arsenal manager to win three league titles.
"It has been a pleasure to watch such breathtaking football all season," he said.
Wenger, who showed little emotion after Sunday's game, said the unbeaten mark is his goal.
"For me, when you are there after 34 games, we are so close," he said. "I would love to keep it going."
Arsenal's flowing style has won plaudits everywhere.
"They are a beautiful team to watch because they play with so much flair and spirit," French soccer great Michel Platini said.
"Hail the masters of the beautiful game" said the front page of The Times, under a picture of striker Thierry Henry kissing his shirt in celebration.
If Arsenal wins its remaining four games it will set a Premier League record of 94 points, two better than Manchester United's total from a 22-club format in 1994.
Arsenal surpassed the 29-game unbeaten start to a season set by Leeds in 1973-74 and Liverpool in 1987-88 with a 1-1 tie at home against Manchester United on March 28.
It also surpassed Burnley's 30-game single-season unbeaten sequence, set in 1920-21. The record for an overall unbeaten run was set by Nottingham Forest, which didn't lose in 42 games over the 1977-78 and 78-79 seasons.
Arsenal's last league defeat was May 4, 2003 — 3-2 to Leeds. The Gunners won the last two games of last season and are unbeaten in 36 games over two seasons.
Arsenal is led by the backbone of Henry, Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell. Henry, who scored 29 goals in 33 league games, was voted the league's player of the year by his peers for the second straight year. Midfielder Edu and young defender Kolo Toure emerged as key players. "Their spectacular exploits this season — tearing teams apart with an unprecedented concoction of breathtaking flair and frightening power — have earned a tag of the most accomplished football team ever to grace these shores," wrote former Arsenal striker Alan Smith in The Daily Telegraph. But for all the praise, last month's Champions League quarterfinal loss to Chelsea hurt. "That is something really special because you are playing against the best and it is still missing from our achievements and losing in the quarterfinal to Chelsea this season is still in our minds," Vieira said. "We want more trophies." |
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