It’s often been said that rules are there to be broken, although the same statement could be applied to records. A record is something that those involved would love to break, be it the World Records for Olympic sprinting or something as silly as the Guinness World Record for the tallest toilet paper tower in 30 seconds. One particular sport that is rife with those seemingly unattainable records has to be football and in particular, England’s top division, the Premier League.
Going Unbeaten
Arguably a record that may never be beaten is the longest unbeaten run in the division’s history, infamously set by Arsenal during the 2003/04 season where Arsene Wenger’s so-called ‘Ia’ side went 49 games without losing. Rather famously, Wenger made an outlandish comment in the press the season prior teasing that Arsenal could go the season unbeaten and in remarkable fashion; it came true.
Whilst the actual league season in 03/04 would lead to a remarkable 26 wins, it wasn’t plain sailing for the Gunners for the entire season, with a high quantity of draws tainting the achievement in some fan’s eyes. One particular close call occurred at Old Trafford in an away tie against Manchester United where Ruud Van Nistelrooy had a penalty hit the post in a game that would remain goalless. It went on to be known as the Battle Of Old Trafford.
Arsenal’s Run Comes to an End
It was Manchester United, in game number 50, who put the Arsenal defence to the sword in a scrappy game that ended with a score of 2-0. At the time, Arsenal fans complained over the state of the victory, with Manchester United winning thanks to a Van Nistelrooy penalty for which Wayne Rooney supposedly dived and then a stoppage time sealer from the Liverpudlian forward.
The Arsenal team in its current state is arguably one of the furthest removed from the Invincibles of nearly twenty years ago, as they haven’t won a major league honour since and have also recently struggled for top European qualification. This is indeed evident in the EPL odds that tip the Gunners to miss out on the Champions League and also just beat Everton with moneyline odds of -100, which does put them narrowly in the driving seat for such a revered tie.
The Lowest All-Time Points Total
At the other end of the spectrum, it is also highly unlikely that any team will get less than eleven points in a Premier League season, as was attained by a disastrous Derby County team back in 2007/08 where they won just one out the thirty-eight league games over the Premier League season. To put that into context, the last time a team achieved such was Loughborough when they got relegated from England’s old Second Division back in 1900. That same season also saw them concede 100 goals in 34 games and achieve one league win.
There are indeed some rather interesting records out there not only in Premier League history but also within the wider game of soccer. From domestic games to international competitions, the sport has often been one of the most captivating and compelling to watch and there might just be more interesting records set in the following months and years.