How Tottenham’s Premier League start compares to Arsenal’s Invincibles

“Why did Sol leave the Lane?” the banner rhetorically asked. “Arsenal champions. 43 years and you’re still waiting.”

The travelling Arsenal fans crammed into Tottenham Hotspur’s ground in 2004 were not fazed by their team’s squandering of a two-goal half-time lead. A point was good enough to confirm the club’s Premier League title at the home of their fiercest rivals no less with a former Tottenham player, Sol Campbell, in the visitors’ backline.

Another two decades have passed since Arsenal cantered through an entire league campaign without tasting defeat. Yet the Gunners, much like Spurs, are still waiting for another top-flight title.

Ange Postecoglou has given Tottenham hope of ending that drought this season, racing through the opening ten games of his debut Premier League campaign with an imperious return of eight wins, two draws and zero defeats.

The affable Aussie has been at pains to point out that “there is a long way to go” but fans have been encouraged to dream. The hazy visions of May will be drenched in an even thicker golden hue when Tottenham’s start is compared to the greatest season of their fiercest rivals.

Postecoglou may insist that Spurs still lack the attacking fluency he is looking for, but that hasn’t been borne out on the pitch. Tottenham found the net at least twice in each of their first seven league games of the season – a feat made all the more impressive considering that Harry Kane and his 30 goals from last season were lost in the summer.

Son Heung-min, free of the injury niggles that blighted him throughout the 2022/23 campaign, is two goals shy of his entire tally from last term and it’s not even Halloween yet. Scary stuff. Taking more shots from closer and more central positions as the team’s new centre-forward, it helps that Son is one of the modern game’s greatest finishers.

With opposition wary of Tottenham’s rejuvenated threat – underpinned by James Maddison’s seamless adaptation behind Son – October saw the leaves and backlines drop. Luton Town, Fulham and Crystal Palace tried to frustrate Spurs, but all three ultimately wilted in the face of what Postecoglou hailed as “disciplined, focused and persistent” play.

That doggedness – and a Friday night fixture – allowed Spurs to open up a five-point gap at the Premier League summit. The year was 1961 and Spurs were on course to win the Double the last time Tottenham enjoyed such a large and lofty margin. Postecoglou, you’d imagine, would settle for one trophy.

Arsenal‘s Invincible campaign was almost over before it had even properly begun. In the sixth league game of the season, Arsene Wenger led his side into Manchester United‘s den for a match that was rapidly rebranded as ‘The Battle of Old Trafford’.

“I liked it because the football was rougher,” Wenger reflected, with a maniacal glint in his eye. Roy Keane earned the first of eight yellow cards dished out by Steve Bennett an hour before his midfield rival Patrick Vieira was given a red. How the Frenchman was the only player to be dismissed remains a mystery.

The match hinged on Ruud van Nistelrooy’s 91st-minute penalty which clattered against the crossbar, sparking wild and overly aggressive celebrations from Martin Keown and Lauren. One year later, Van Nistelrooy would score from the spot to end Arsenal’s unbeaten sequence at 49 games but squandered the chance to bring it to a halt when their run stood at just seven.

The best winners are rarely good losers. Sir Alex Ferguson would later scoff that Arsenal’s unbeaten season included “too many draws”. The Gunners ended the campaign on 12 stalemates (26 wins, zero defeats), three of which arrived across their opening ten league fixtures.

Postecoglou’s current iteration of Tottenham have accrued more wins and scored more goals than Wenger’s golden vintage. How their records compare in May will be the ultimate test.

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