Where Would Arsenal's Double Finish in the Premier League's Greatest Seasons?

The prospect of Arsenal winning both the Premier League and Champions League has sparked an intriguing question: quite where would such an achievement sit among the most magnificent campaigns in English top-flight history?

The answer appears straightforward—somewhere in the top five, possibly even higher. It's a feat that would likely eclipse Liverpool's previous benchmark for excellence.

Let's work through the pantheon of Premier League greatness, starting from the bottom of our top ten.

10. Manchester United, 2008/09

A Premier League title with 90 points, England's first Club World Cup triumph, and a League Cup winners' medal decorated this campaign. The stumble came in the Champions League final against one of football's finest ever teams, while an FA Cup semi-final exit arrived via penalties.

The remarkable detail? United's only league defeats came to genuine heavyweights—Liverpool, Arsenal, Fulham, Derby, Zenit Saint Petersburg, and Barcelona. Edwin van der Sar's shot-stopping was almost supernatural, and John O'Shea somehow found the net in a Champions League knockout tie.

9. Chelsea, 2004/05

Chelsea's first top-flight title in half a century arrived with just a single league loss—a record that will never be surpassed. Nicolas Anelka's involvement in that solitary defeat remains a source of eternal frustration.

A peculiar League Cup final victory offered false hope of establishing a trophy-collecting dynasty. Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho's attempt to retain the Champions League crown fell to Luis Garcia and a linesman whose photograph Mourinho presumably keeps for dartboard purposes. Chelsea conceded just 33 goals across all competitions—a miserly tally that only Arsenal (26) and Manchester City (32) have bettered in the Premier League alone this season.

8. Manchester City, 2017/18

The only 100-point campaign in Premier League history began, naturally enough, with a League Cup final victory. Pep Guardiola was simply following the established blueprint.

That sole cup success preceded an utterly dominant league season, complete with records for most wins, most consecutive victories, most goals scored, and best goal difference—all still standing. City lost some lustre by exiting the FA Cup to Wigan and suffering one of their most embarrassing defeats to that same opponent. Liverpool's Champions League demolition job added another blemish.

7. Arsenal, 2003/04

The Invincibles completed an entire league season without defeat, a monument to tactical perfection and consistency. Yet they never captured the Champions League, knocked out by Chelsea, Manchester United, and Steve McClare's Middlesbrough in the cup competitions—a reminder that domestic perfection and European success rarely coexist.

6. Leicester, 2015/16

A Big Six club executive once remarked anonymously that "we don't want too many Leicester Citys." The circumstances that aligned for their extraordinary title win seemed so improbable that a repeat appears virtually impossible.

A side fighting relegation the previous season, having sacked their manager that summer, somehow capitalised on unprecedented simultaneous collapse from the usual contenders. Leicester's triumph was entirely deserving, yet utterly unpredictable—the least likely and most wonderful of champions.

5. Manchester City, 2018/19

Sir Alex Ferguson once declared the domestic treble "impossible" due to fixture congestion and injury concerns. Manchester City proved him wrong by embracing a refreshingly simple philosophy: win every match.

Between February 3 and May 18, they played 23 matches and won 22, claiming the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup. They somehow contrived to make their solitary defeat part of the most farcical Champions League exit imaginable.

4. Liverpool, 2019/20

The title arrived in June, the earliest and latest a team has ever won the Premier League crown. Seven games remained when the mathematics became irrelevant.

The asterisk comments about the pandemic season deserve to persist, yet Liverpool's dominance between March 2019 and February 2020 remains unmatched. They dropped more points in the seven-game behind-closed-doors finale than in the previous 31 matches combined. No Premier League side has ever been so utterly superior over such an extended period, though they failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals in any other competition.

3. Manchester United, 2007/08

In the Premier League era, only three clubs have married a title with a European trophy. The other continental champions finished 2nd, 3rd (three times), 4th (three times), 5th, 6th, 14th, and 17th. United managed it by sacrificing the FA Cup and League Cup early—the third and sixth rounds respectively—allowing a second-string side to handle the Quadruple's funeral rites against Coventry in September rather than letting those hopes fester.

It's precisely the balancing act Arsenal will attempt in their remaining four fixtures.

2. Manchester City, 2022/23

A mid-season World Cup four thousand miles away, the Queen's death, and the Marc Cucurella situation couldn't derail what many consider Guardiola's greatest coaching triumph. City scored 151 goals across an absurdly dominant campaign, with Erling Haaland responsible for over one-third of them following his summer arrival.

The identity of whoever stopped them from winning the Quadruple remains comedy gold.

1. Manchester United, 1998/99

The forgotten treble—Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup—arrived without even needing the League Cup springboard. The sheer implausibility of winning all three remains the benchmark against which all other seasons are measured. One day, perhaps when Gary Neville finally exhausts his platform options, the full story will be properly told.