Feeling less than relevant stuck out in Turkey, Jose Mourinho has once again courted controversy by insisting his first Chelsea team were superior to Arsenal’s Invincibles, a claim that collapses under its own logic.
Speaking to Canal 11, Mourinho said, “I think Chelsea was the best Premier League team ever. It’s been 20 years since that team. Arsenal were invincible, but they were invincible in one season. We were more invincible than them in two seasons. They won 38 games, we won 46. But those 46 were spread across two seasons. They were a fantastic team.”
The flaw in his thinking is obvious: you cannot be “more invincible” if you lose matches. Arsène Wenger’s 2003–04 Arsenal side went unbeaten through an entire Premier League season, a feat no one, including Mourinho, has repeated.
His Chelsea side, dominant though it was, still lost games. Invincibility is absolute; you either achieve it or you do not.
Mourinho went further, revisiting the 2005 Champions League semi-final defeat to Liverpool, claiming Chelsea were denied success because “there was no goal-line technology”.
There is no disputing Mourinho’s place among elite managers, nor Chelsea’s domestic dominance between 2004 and 2006, but claiming superiority over a team that went an entire season undefeated is revisionism.
Arsenal’s Invincibles did not need two seasons to prove their point; they simply never lost in one.
Even Mourinho’s own words concede that Arsenal’s achievement was unique. “They were a fantastic team,” he admitted, before trying to argue against an achievement that has never been surpassed and is unlikely to be.