Ranking the 10 greatest teams of the Premier League era | OneFootball

Manchester City’s record breaking title winning 2017/18 campaign has sparked a great deal of debate about whether Pep Guardiola’s swashbuckling side should be considered the greatest Premier League team in the 25-year history of the competition.

Well we’ve been thinking about some of the other contenders for that crown, and here is our definitive list – in order – of the 10 greatest Premier League champions of all time.

10. Manchester City – 2013/14

With all the hype surrounding City’s current crop, it’s easy to forget that their last title-winning team were not half bad either. In his first season in English football, Manuel Pellegrini’s City eventually saw off the challenge of a mighty strong Liverpool side in a title race which went down to the final day, racking up an impressive 86 points and 102 goals along the way.

9. Leicester City – 2015/16

They may not have played the most stylish brand of football the Premier League has ever seen but the Foxes are more than deserving of their place in this list for the sheer against-all-odds audacity of their triumph alone. Though many were keen to write off the most unlikely of title wins as a perfect storm that season, Claudio Ranieri’s side finished 10 points clear of runners up Arsenal and only lost three games all season. Two years on and we still can’t quite believe they did it.

8. Manchester United – 2007/08

This is the first mention of Manchester United in this list but it won’t be the last. The Red Devils’ 2007/08 title win came in the middle of a streak of three and though they actually managed two points fewer than the previous season, this campaign was perhaps made more memorable by the fact they also hoisted the Champions League aloft at the end of it. This was a team which had world-class players in every department and it could be a while before Old Trafford sees their like again.

7. Arsenal – 1997/98

Arsène Wenger’s first Premier League title winning Arsenal side may not have produced the scintillating brand of football that would later become the Frenchman’s trademark but a combination of old-school English defending and foreign flair made them one of the most balanced outfits to have ever graced England’s top flight. The likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Nicolas Anelka and Marc Overmars helped them pip Manchester United to the title with two games to spare and set the tone for what was to come in north London.

6. Manchester United – 1993/94

The second of Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13 Premier League title-winning campaigns was arguably Manchester United’s most dominant of the 1990s. Peter Schmeichel was imperious in goal, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister formed a solid rock in the centre of defence, summer signing Roy Keane formed a fearsome midfield partnership with Paul Ince, while the likes of Ryan Giggs, Andrei Kanchelskis, Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes caused all manner of problems in attack. In a 42-game season, they finished a healthy eight points clear of nearest challengers Blackburn Rovers.

5. Manchester United – 1999/00

Spoiler alert! United’s 1998/99 treble winning side does not feature anywhere in this list. Outrageous, right? Well, maybe not. Remarkable though their achievements were in 98/99, the Red Devils only won the Premier League with a relatively measly 79 points (two fewer than Leicester in 15/16) whereas the following year, they finished with 91 and won the league by a margin of 18 points – which is currently still a Premier League record. Has there ever been a better midfield in England than David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs? We’re racking our brains.

4. Chelsea – 2004/05

We’ve reached the point in the list where a reasonable argument could be made for anyone to be considered the greatest of all-time and José Mourinho’s first season at Chelsea was a very special one indeed. That year, the Blues conceded just 15 goals, kept an incredible 25 clean sheets and ended up with 95 points – a record total which still stands to this day.  Arjen Robben hit the ground running, Claude Makélélé became so good his name defined the position and Frank Lampard had a coming-of-age season. They won the title again the following season and that team wasn’t half bad either.

3. Manchester City – 2017/18

Though their season isn’t yet over and they could still set new records in terms of goals scored and points gained, we don’t feel one brilliant season is enough to define Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City as the greatest Premier League side of all time just yet. Still, it’s been one heck of a ride for City’s supporters and their brand of beautiful possession football has been an absolute joy to watch. Their season will go down in history as one of the greatest in the Premier League era but it will all have been for nothing if they don’t build on it next year.

2. Manchester United – 2008/09

Building on success is one of the many things Sir Alex Ferguson was so brilliant at during his time at Old Trafford and the 2008/09 title winning side was arguably the greatest version of Manchester United the Scotsman ever produced. Despite having won the league and Champions League double the season before, United did not rest on their laurels and ended up pipping Rafael Benítez’s Liverpool to the post with three more points than they’d managed the previous season. But though 08/09 yielded 12 fewer goals than 07/08, it was a title won thanks largely to a solid defensive unit, which managed a scarcely believable run of 14 consecutive clean sheets between November and late February.

1. Arsenal – 2003/04

Played 38, won 26, drawn 12, lost 0. Detractors often try to knock Arsenal’s Invincibles team by pointing out how many games they drew that season, yet they won the league with 90 points and managed to go an entire season unbeaten for the first time since the 19th century. The fact nobody has even come close to repeating the feat since tells you just how remarkable their achievement was. And though the Gunners boasted the league’s best defence that season, it’s their attacking flair for which they will be most remembered. Thierry Henry, in particular, was unstoppable, but Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg were dropping jaws up and down the country, while Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva provided solid foundations in midfield. Fourteen years have passed, and the Invincibles are still untouchable.