Thursday, 20 March 2014

Arsenal Wenger celebrates his 100th game at Emirates Stadium. As he awaits to face Chelsea

The Frenchman is the longest-serving boss in the Premier League following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement from his Manchester United duties and even a nine-year silverware drought cannot change the legacy of a man who made history in north London and altered the face of English football.
His sides have played arguably the most attractive football England has seen, and he forced his way into the record books by leading the Gunners to an unbeaten top-flight campaign in 2003-04.
A virtual unknown in the Premier League when he succeeded Bruce Rioch in 1996, it would not take him long to make his mark and by the end of the 1997-98 season he had won the title and FA Cup.
The feat was repeated four years later and two more FA Cups came his way in the following three years.
Arguably his finest hour – the unbeaten campaign which earned his men the ‘Invincibles’ tag – could have been eclipsed in 2006 when Arsenal took on Barcelona in the European Cup final, but they fell to a 2-1 defeat despite taking the lead with 10 men, after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann’s dismissal.
Wenger has not had the pleasure of lifting a trophy since the penalty shoot-out triumph over United in the 2005 FA Cup final.
His volatile relationship with Ferguson thawed towards the end of the Scot’s Old Trafford tenure, although the cynics say that was mainly due to the Gunners’ inability to challenge United for major honours.
As the wilderness years have gone by Wenger has increasingly split opinion among his club’s supporters, but a significant improvement this term has put Arsenal in a position to lift the FA Cup once again and challenge for the title – although that could hinge on Saturday’s result.

How fitting it would be if the race for top spot was blown wide open by the visitors at Stamford Bridge on the manager’s big day, and at the expense of his nemesis in the opposition dug-out, Jose Mourinho.

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