Last Sunday, Manchester United continued their unbeaten Premier League run this season after a nil-all draw with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. It is now 21 games unbeaten for the Red Devils in the league this season, a run that includes 12 wins and nine draws. With 17 league games remaining in the 2010/2011 season, can Sir Aex Ferguson's side become only the second team to go through an entire Premier League campaign unbeaten?
If they do, they will join Arsene Wenger's 'Invincibles' as one of only two sides to go through a league campaign unbeaten and only the third in the history of top flight football in England.
Preston North End - The Original Invincibles
Preaton NE were one of the founding members of the Football League and English football's first champions after the league's inception in 1888. In etching their name into English football folklore, they went through the entire season unbeaten. In that season, they only played 22 games as opposed to the 38 games that Premier League sides now play. The 1888/1889 season also saw the Lilywhites win the FA Cup without conceding a goal. The following season they won the league title again - the last time they have achieved this feat.
Arsene Wenger's Premier League Invincibles
In the 2003/2004 season, the North London side emulated Preston's achievements from two centuries before by remaining undefeated throughout the entire league campaign. Arsenal won 26 and drew 12 of their league games to claim the second of their three league titles under the Frenchman Arsene Wenger.
Manchester United have some way to go before matching or beating Arsenal's records, which also encompassed part of the 2002/2003 season and the 2004/2005 season. United are currently maintaining a league record of 26 games unbeaten altogether. The last time they lost in the competition was a two-one defeat against Chelsea at Old Trafford on the third of April 2010.
Arsenal are the current holders of the longest unbeaten record in the history of top flight English football. The record stands at 49 games, stretching from the fourth of May 2003 to the 24th of October 2004. The record began after a three-two defeat to Leeds United and was ended after a controversial defeat away to Manchester United. The controversy centred on a debatable penalty given for a foul on Wayne Rooney by Arsenal centre-back Sol Campbell which was subsequently scored by Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Arsenal beat the league's previous longest unbeaten sequence of 42 games that had been held by Nottingham Forest for over a quarter of a century. That Arsenal side featured many of the Premier League's greatest ever players including Campbell, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira. In 2001/2002 Arsenal also went the entire season unbeaten away in the league and are the current holders of the longest unbeaten away record in the league's history - a 27 game sequence stretching from the fifth of April 2003 to the 24th of October 2004. They are the only team in the history of the league to go unbeaten away from home and have done so on two occasions.
The Gunners were beaten just twice in the league in the calendar year in 2003 and twice again in the calendar year of 2004. They also did not lose a home league match in 2004.
Manchester United's League Records
Manchester United's longest unbeaten league run currently stands at 29 games. They have gone unbeaten in 45 games in all competitions, during which time they won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League in 1999 - a feat as yet unmatched by any other side in the history of English football. In a season where they still have to play Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool away, it remains to be seen whether they can add their name to those invincibles who have gone before them.
John kELLY - null
