Thierry Henry believes “people forget” one key thing about the Arsenal Invincibles.
Arsenal remain the only team in Premier League history to go an entire season unbeaten, and the second in English top-flight history after Preston’s 1888/89 side.
The achievement has been put into stark context in recent years by the brilliance of Manchester City and Liverpool, who have both dominated different seasons but still been beaten at some point.
The Invincibles are downplayed by some, however, due to their relatively poor record in cup competitions.
Arsenal were beaten in the semi-final of the FA Cup by Manchester United, the semi-final of the League Cup by Middlesbrough and the quarter-final of the Champions League by Chelsea.
But Henry believes one sequence of four games in eight April 2004 days is overlooked.
Arsenal played United in the FA Cup on April 3, Chelsea in the second leg of their Champions League tie on April 6, then had Premier League games against Liverpool on April 9 and Newcastle on April 11.
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Those matches ended in a 1-0 defeat, a 2-1 defeat, a 4-2 win and a 0-0 draw respectively, and Henry feels that sort of fixture congestion is something clubs complain about almost two decades later.
“People talk a lot about that moment,” he told Sky Sports. “People forget we had to play in eight days: Chelsea, Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool. People forget that.
“I didn’t play against Man United at Villa. You know how upset I was? We collapsed in one half against Chelsea, rightly so they beat us. We’re human.
“Those four games in eight days. We asked to see if they could change it. They didn’t move anything for us.
“These problems people are complaining about now, we had it then. No-one cried for us. Nobody.”
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