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Welcome to the Arsenal Advent Calendar: The Invincibles edition. Every day in the build-up to Christmas, The Athletic will bring subscribers content to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Arsenal’s unbeaten season in 2003-04. It could be a short story, a long interview, or a segment of audio. It might be published early or late in the day.

Whatever it is, there will be a little something, a reminder, or a new take on a moment during that campaign for all Arsenal fans. If you miss a day or want to gorge on it all at once, like the small chocolates in your festive calendars, we won’t judge. Simply step this way to find all the treasures in one place. Enjoy! 

The Invincibles become more mythical with each year that passes.

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Arsenal’s achievement 20 years ago inevitably leads to debate about eras in football and the relative strength of teams but, sometimes, those debates can fall short: without a time machine, there is no way of pitting sides from different generations against each other and finding out who truly are the best. But there is no harm in admitting football was different then and celebrating both that 2003-04 season and contemporary football on their own merits.

Besides it being a landmark campaign for Arsenal, it was also a notable one in terms of data collection. It is the first Premier League campaign for which Opta data on individual games is available, so this represents the perfect opportunity to examine those early figures, which capture one of the most memorable seasons in English sporting history.

Arsenal’s resilience in the numbers

Arsenal were undoubtedly the best team in English football that year, but that didn’t mean they were flawless throughout. They needed to grind out results — their infamous goalless draw with Manchester United in the September being the most obvious example. Arsenal recorded their lowest number of shots in a game all season that day (six) and failed to get any of them on target — the only time Wenger’s side would record a zero in that particular column that season.

Arsenal went to Old Trafford reeling from a 3-0 home defeat to Inter Milan in their opening Champions League group tie and needed a result more than a performance. From a United perspective, they looked to make life as difficult as possible. Phil Neville played with Roy Keane in midfield and the pair — alongside whichever winger was nearest — stuck to Dennis Bergkamp throughout the game. The Dutchman struggled and Arsenal’s attacks lacked any real drive as a result.

After 40 minutes, and despite just one shot from Arsenal, UK broadcaster Sky Sports’ co-commentator on the game, Andy Gray, was largely impressed with the away team’s approach.

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“The Arsenal manager will be absolutely delighted with the way his team have played,” Gray said in his Sky commentary.

“You see these two teams going at it and it’s almost as if they think, ‘Let’s get this game over with, get on with the rest of the season and we’ll see who wins it (the title). We’ll take a point each and get on with it’,” he added in the second half.

That should show where Arsenal were mentally that day, but Wenger’s post-match quotes do an even better job.

“Today was important to show we are resilient and can defend,” he said. “We were a little bit on our back foot when we won the ball and cautious. When you get a shock like we did on Wednesday (the Inter game), the most important thing is the character of the team. Today I’ve seen plenty.

“I must say a lot of credit to these players because, over the years, they have remarkable consistency. It’s not outlined enough, because that shows tremendous spirit.”

For their part, United only had nine shots, the most memorable of which came in the 94th minute, when Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty cannoned off Arsenal’s crossbar. But, in the subsequent melee, Thierry Henry produced a powerful defensive header to clear Arsenal’s lines once more. It was one of only 10 headed clearances he made that season but, in the context of what was to come, it was a minuscule data point which had a major impact on the overall campaign.

Conversely, different qualities were needed at the end of the season when the title had been won but Arsenal’s unbeaten record was consciously on the line.

Their 648 passes away against Portsmouth on May 4 were the most in a single game by any Premier League team that season — a numerical expression of a tired but determined squad trying their best to get over the line. Five days later, at Fulham, in the penultimate match of the season, Arsenal recorded their lowest pass completion rate (71.3 per cent) of 2003-04.

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By that stage, the possibility of a first English top-flight unbeaten season since 1888-89 was in sight and all that mattered was not losing.

2003-04 versus 2023-24

Twenty years ago was no sort of footballing Dark Age, but how the game was played was certainly different then. There was more risk, and less consideration. More thrust, less control.

Contemporary football analysis goes well beyond pass completion rates, but a look at Arsenal in that metric for 2003-04 compared to averages nowadays gives an interesting snapshot of stylistic differences. Wenger’s side had the best pass completion rate in the league that season at 79.4 per cent, but in 2023-24, that would put them roughly level with David Moyes’ West Ham United — who have the 20-team division’s seventh-worst rate.

The emphasis that is put on goalkeepers and defenders to pass progressively in modern football would look alien to someone from 2003-04, but anyone who watched The Invincibles would agree they were the smoothest operators of their time.

Wenger was not opposed to ball-playing defenders, but took much less control over what his players did than Mikel Arteta or Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola do today. The game then was much more freeform, a system that allowed Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Henry and Freddie Ljungberg to interchange and ensure that Arsenal were not just stuck in a rigid 4-4-2, but moved across the pitch to give teams more difficult questions to answer.

GO DEEPER

Arsenal Advent: Watching an Invincibles game for the first time in 2023

Arteta’s Arsenal of 2023-24 are scoring and shooting slightly more often than The Invincibles did, taking 15.8 shots and scoring 2.06 goals per game, compared to 14.2 and 1.92 goals by Wenger’s undefeated champions.

That 2003-04 side did not have to deal with teams retreating into low blocks as often, so could carve opponents open with free-flowing football more often. The low-block conundrum this season has also seen Arsenal win more penalties than they had in the entirety of the previous one (five) as they spend more time camped in and around the other team’s box. That has meant they are earning penalties at over double the rate The Invincibles did. This year’s scoring average will likely dip over the season, but the fact they are currently scoring at a similar rate despite facing different obstacles is interesting.

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With less ‘control’ over them, games were less prescribed.

Arsenal’s defence this season is actually tighter, despite the team already losing once in the league. The 2003-04 side conceded 10 shots a game on average, while their 2023-24 counterparts’ average is eight. The reliability of the 34-year-old Jens Lehmann was handy — the 2003-04 team still managed to concede fewer goals on average than Arsenal so far this season (0.68 to 0.88).

That is not just a testament to Lehmann but the team as a whole. The most shots they faced came away to Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers, who peppered the Arsenal goal 18 times when the Londoners visited just before Christmas.

Bolton were confident, having beaten Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge the previous weeked. Combinations between Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff, a fearsome pairing of Ivan Campo and Kevin Nolan in midfield and Kevin Davies up front gave a rotated Arsenal defence problems. An 18-year-old Gael Clichy was repeatedly troubled by Campo, Okocha hit the post and a goal-line Pires clearance was needed, although Bolton still managed to score. That 87th-minute equaliser came courtesy of a long ball, a Davies knockdown and a Henrik Pederson volley, and the game finished 1-1.

Although Arsenal only left the then Reebok Stadium that day with a point, they had no issue mixing it in their more physically demanding games.

That goalless draw at Old Trafford is the best example, but, on average, The Invincibles committed five fouls per match more than the current side (14.2 vs 9.5).

They had the perfect blend of resolve, silk and steel. That is what set them apart from their contemporaries and allowed them to create history. Nobody can predict whether it will be repeated, or how that team would fare if transported into the modern game, but that isn’t really the point.

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Times move on, and football moves with it.

When asked whether he preferred football from his playing days a decade and more ago to the version seen today, Arteta said as much: “I live in the present. I try to use every single tool in a way that empowers your qualities. If certain things take away from your gut feeling or decision-making, depending on where that information comes from, it can be dangerous. At the same time, it can be really powerful to open your eyes to something else.”

And nothing opened people’s eyes more than The Invincibles.

(Top photo: Getty Images) 

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