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‘I told them they could become immortal’

May 15, 2004 will be a date forever etched in Arsene Wenger’s memory.

Having already clinched the title at White Hart Lane a few weeks earlier, we were still unbeaten in the Premier League when Leicester City visited Highbury for the final game of the season.

The Foxes took a shock lead through Paul Dickov but goals from Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira saw us crowned Invincibles, a moment Wenger will never forget.

“When you have a team, you only see the imperfections.” he said. “I knew I had a super team because I had a good combination of power with Kolo and Sol - two physical monsters at the back - and Ashley Cole and Lauren on the flanks who were good football players as well.

“In 2003, we lost the championship and I asked the players in pre-season, ‘Why did we lose the championship?’. They told me, ‘Because of you’. I said, ‘Why?’ and they said it’s because I put them under too much pressure.

“They wanted to win the championship without losing a game and I told them that I believed they could do it. Then I said, ‘I really believe we can do that, it would be great. You can do something special, so let’s go for it at least’.

“I don’t know how it happened, but game after game we didn’t lose, and we won the championship with five games to go. Usually you lose the next game because everybody switches off, so I told the players who wanted to have a breather, ‘Now you can become immortal’.”