John Terry has claimed that his Chelsea team’s feat of conceding just 15 goals in the 2004-05 season was as impressive as when Arsenal went unbeaten for the entire campaign the previous year.
Terry was elected to the Premier League Hall of Fame on Monday, alongside Manchester United legend Andy Cole, where he will join former teammate Ashley Cole for induction in 2024.
Indeed, he also finds several Gunners’ Invincible icons in the form of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Arsene Wenger and, of course, Cole, who swapped north London for the city’s west soon after.
Likewise, Frank Lampard Petr Cech and Didier Drogba were also awarded the Premier League’s top individual honour, meaning both sides of the debate are well represented after two of arguably the most impressive feats in the competition’s history.
While Chelsea lost once in 2004-05, away to Manchester City, Arsenal conceded 11 more goals, and Terry believes the two achievements deserve to be on the same pedestal in the annals of Premier League history. .
John Terry (right) believes Chelsea’s 2004-05 season was as impressive as Arsenal’s invincible campaign the previous one.
Arsenal were undefeated throughout the 2003-04 Premier League season and won the league with 90 points.
Terry was elected to the Premier League Hall of Fame on Monday alongside Man United legend Andy Cole.
“I’m going to upset a couple of people here, but I think that season was as good as the Invincibles season for Arsenal. They drew a lot of games,” he said.
“We only lost once, against Manchester City, Paulo Ferreira gave away a penalty early in the game and we should have come back and won the game.
“When you look at the goals we conceded that year, we conceded against teams you wouldn’t expect, if I’m honest, and that’s no disrespect to them. Looking back today. It could have been nine or ten goals conceded.
“I don’t think it’s a record that’s going to be broken if I’m honest. I certainly hope it doesn’t and I’m very proud of what we did defensively. That’s what we were paid to do, keep the ball out of the net. Obviously it helped me with players around me like Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and Ricky Carvalho, so I’m very grateful for that.”
Terry’s team broke several records that season, including most wins (29), fewest goals conceded (15), most away wins (15), fewest goals conceded away home (nine) and the most clean sheets (25).
The arrival of Jose Mourinho at the start of the campaign led to a huge influx of new players, including Portuguese duo Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira for £33.1m, following the Porto boss.
The result was instantaneous and Chelsea claimed their first league title in 50 years, and their first in the Premier League era, finishing with 95 points, some 12 more than the Gunners in second place.
However, Terry named one of that Invincible Arsenal team as the toughest competitor he has faced in the Premier League.
Ricardo Carvalho joined Chelsea at the beginning of the season from Porto following manager José Mourinho.
Thierry Henry was named as Terry’s toughest opponent: the Frenchman won four Golden Boots and two Player of the Season awards and is also in the Hall of Fame.
“Thierry Henry was the best I faced, the one I feared the most,” he admitted.
“Next has to be Wayne Rooney. He was a top-notch player and what he accomplished was incredible. I don’t know if it’s a little overlooked how good Wayne was when he first broke into the England team. I remember playing against him in the Premier League and having him as a teammate in the England sessions. He was phenomenal.
“I would also say that it was difficult to face Sergio Agüero or Harry Kane.”
Henry won four Golden Boot awards in the top flight, including three consecutively between 2003 and 2006, as well as two Player of the Season awards, scoring a total of 175 goals and assisting a further 74 in 258 appearances.