Third crown for 'invincible' Arsenal

Arsene Wenger is Arsenal's longest-serving manager.

After taking over from Bruce Rioch in September 1996, Arsene Wenger soon earned the respect of the Arsenal fans who now regard the Frenchman as the greatest manager the Gunners have ever had.

Without making too much noise, as his calmness speaks for itself, the wily Frenchman soon became a popular figure in the English game. In his first six years as Arsenal manager, Wenger led the team to stardom, winning two league and cup doubles in the process.

In the other five seasons when they failed to win the title, Arsenal finished runners-up on four occasions and once third. Yet, in Europe, the trophies were lacking from the Highbury boardroom and, in the first few years under Wenger, they only came close to lifting the UEFA Cup, finishing runners-up in 1999/2000 (later Wenger steered the Londoners to the final of the Champions League).

At the end of season 2003-04, the Gunners were dubbed 'The Invincibles' after going through a record-breaking undefeated campaign, claiming the crown with four matches still to play.

Arsenal's feat was unprecedented in the history of English football.

Preston also went through a whole season unbeaten in the very first league campaign in 1888-89 but they only played 22 matches.

Transfers

Arsenal: Jens Lehman from B. Dortmund, Antonio Reyes from Sevilla; David Seaman to Man. City.

Aston Villa: Gavin McCann from Sunderland, Thomas Sorensen from Sunderland; Peter Enckelman to Blackburn.

Birmingham: Luciano Figueroa from Rosario Central, Maik Taylor from Fulham; Geoff Horsfield to Wigan.

Blackburn: Brett Emerton from Feyenoord, Steven Reid from Millwall; David Duff to Chelsea.

Bolton: Florent Leville from Lyon, Mario Jardel from Sporting Lisbon; Delroy Facey to West Brom.

Charlton: Matt Holland from Ipswich; Paolo di Canio from West Ham; Mathias Svensson to Norwich.

Chelsea: Sebastian Veron from Man. United, Joe Cole from West Ham; Graeme Le Saux to Southampton.

Everton: Joseph Yobo from Marseille, Nigel Martyn from Leeds; Mark Pembridge to Fulham.

Fulham: Mark Crossley from Middlesbrough, Moritz Volz from Arsenal; Louis Saha to Manchester United.

Leeds: Jody Morris from Chelsea, Steve Caldwell from Newcastle; Olivier Dacourt to Roma.

Leicester: Ben Thatcher from Tottenham, Steve Howey from Manchester City; Brian Deane to West Ham.

Liverpool: Steve Finnan from Fulham, Harry Kewell from Leeds; Markus Babbel to Blackburn.

Manchester City: Trevor Sinclair from West Ham, Claudio Reyna from Sunderland; Niclas Jensen to B. Dortmund.

Manchester United: David Bellion from Sunderland, Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon; David Beckham to Real Madrid.

Middlesbrough: Chris Riggott from Derby, Gaizka Mendieta from Lazio; Alan Wright to Sheffield United.

Newcastle: Lee Bowyer from West Ham, Michael Bridges from Leeds; Nolberto Solano to Aston Villa.

Portsmouth: Yakubu from Maccabi Haifa, Amdy Faye from Auxerre; Gianluca Festa to Cagliari.

Southampton: Kevin Phillips from Sunderland, Stephen Crainey from Celtic; Wayne Bridge to Chelsea.

Tottenham: Helder Postiga from Porto, Freddie Kanoute from West Ham; Neil Sullivan to Chelsea.

Wolves: Jody Craddock from Sunderland, Henri Camara from Sedan; Adam Proudlock to Sheffield Wednesday.

Statistics - 2003-04

• Thierry Henry, of Arsenal, scored two hat-tricks in successive weeks in the Premier League - vs Liverpool and Leeds. The first treble came from Teddy Sheringham for Portsmouth at home to Bolton.

• Arsene Wenger (Arsenal), Claudio Ranieri (Chelsea) and Sam Allardyce (Bolton) won the monthly managerial award twice each.

• In the players' category, Henry lifted the prize on two occasions, and two other Arsenal players, Edu and Bergkamp, shared the accolade for the month of February.

• Arsenal chalked up nine doubles, including the home and away league wins over runners-up Chelsea.

• The club with the most sendings-off was Leicester with six.