Remembering When Arsenal's Invincibles Clinched the Premier League Title

Eleven years ago, on April 25, 2004, 11 men in Arsenal red achieved something incredible. They secured the point that ensured they would become champions of England before suffering a single defeat.

Moreover, they managed to secure the league title at the home of their hated rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. They had four league games to go before ultimately securing their undefeated campaign, but as Arsenal fans remind their neighbours in song to this day, they won the league at White Hart Lane. It was a fitting climax to a breathtaking campaign of football. 

Arsenal began the match with the same swagger with which they had dismissed most opposition in this extraordinary season. Within three minutes of kick-off, they had the lead.

LALO R. VILLAR/Associated Press

Incredibly, the opening goal came from a Tottenham corner. That was typical of this Arsenal team, who could break at lightning speed. There were athletes of the highest calibre in every position, capable of outrunning and outmuscling any opponent. Anthony Gardner met Johnnie Jackson's set piece, but Gardner's weak header fell to Thierry Henry on the edge of his own box.  

Henry’s jet engines ignited, and Arsenal tore away down the field. He burst along the left flank before sliding a pass through to Dennis Bergkamp, also breaking with surprising speed down the wing. Bergkamp looked up and played an inch-perfect pass across goal. It wasn’t a pass to a player, but to space—space soon occupied by the telescopic leg of Patrick Vieira, who ended a pitch-long charge by extending a foot to prod the ball beyond Kasey Keller.

Just 15 seconds had passed between Arsenal regaining possession and their putting the ball into the net. This was an archetypal Arsenal goal: exhilarating, beautiful and devastatingly efficient. 

Half an hour later, Arsenal extended their lead. It was another intricately worked goal, culminating in a typically composed finish from Robert Pires. The Gunners were executing Arsene Wenger’s football philosophy to perfection, and Tottenham had no answer for their brilliance. By the time the interval arrived, Arsenal’s championship success seemed utterly inevitable. 

However, Spurs were not prepared to lie down without a fight. For Spurs to see Arsenal secure the title at their own stadium represented a significant humiliation, and they gave their all to produce an unlikely turnaround.

First, Jamie Redknapp halved the deficit with an outstanding strike from range. Then, in stoppage time, a scuffle between Robbie Keane and Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann led to the award of a penalty kick to Spurs. 

Although Lehmann was an enormously gifted goalkeeper, he did have a short temper. Keane knew it and spent much of the game trying to provoke him into a response. With the match moments from ending, the German finally snapped, shoving his opponent to the ground. The referee had little choice, and Keane converted the kick to tie the score.

Lehmann’s moment of madness prompted a show of frustration from the Arsenal players. This had been the perfect season, and they wanted the perfect climax. Surrendering a two-goal lead took a little of the shine off an incredible day.

Nevertheless, they were still champions. Before the match, Arsenal had tacitly agreed not to celebrate any potential triumph for fear of inciting the crowd. However, the team revised those plans at the full-time whistle, and the catalyst for that change in policy was Tottenham full-back Mauricio Taricco.

When Tottenham levelled the score at 2-2, Taricco celebrated with such vigour that he pulled his hamstring. Given that the result would have no bearing on Arsenal’s title glory, his glee was difficult to explain.

LAWRENCE LUSTIG/Associated Press

His behaviour understandably irritated Arsenal, and particularly Henry. When the final whistle blew, Henry gathered his team-mates in to a huddle before heading to celebrate in front of the travelling Arsenal fans.

There were a couple of notable absentees from those joyous scenes. Lehmann, infuriated at his error, headed straight to the dressing room. Sol Campbell, who could be forgiven for finding the occasion emotionally exhausting, joined him.

This was a particularly poignant day for Campbell. The towering centre-half had moved from Tottenham to Arsenal just a few years earlier and was subject to vicious taunts from the partisan crowd. Some of the vitriol he experienced in that period was beyond the pale. For him, this represented the ultimate revenge on his abusers. Campbell left Tottenham to win trophies, and a second league title proved his decision correct.

After a quiet moment alone, both he and Lehmann went on to join the celebrations.

LAWRENCE LUSTIG/Associated Press

The singing and dancing in that corner of White Hart Lane matched similar scenes in the residential area around Highbury, where fans poured out of their homes and onto the street to celebrate a historic triumph. For the second time in their history, Arsenal had clinched the title at the home of their rivals.

Ashley Cole and Henry marked the occasion by planting an inflatable Premier League trophy in the centre of the White Hart Lane pitch. The Gunners had marked their territory. Arsenal were champions, and north London was red once again.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout the 2014-15 season. Follow him on Twitter here.