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THE date May 15, 2004, will be forever etched in the history of Arsenal FC, as on that day, they became the first-ever up to now the only English club to win the Premier League unbeaten.

The Gunners achieved the historic feat under the tutelage of legendary French manager Arsene Wenger. They finished on the top of the league table with 90 from 38 matches. They won 26 games and drew 12.

‘The Invincibles’, as they are popularly known, are one of the greatest sides in the history of the league. As Wenger’s men scripted history 17 years ago, we take a look at the squad that achieved the unthinkable feat and where those players are now.

This article considered 20 players that played 10 or more games in the 2003-04 Premier League season.

Jens Lehmann – GK
The German goalkeeper played at Arsenal in two stints, (2003-2008 and 2011). Other than Arsenal, he played for clubs like Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan. He retired from professional football in 2011.

After retirement, he joined Arsenal as their goalkeeper coach in 2017 and stayed at the club for a year. In 2019 he joined Augsburg as their assistant coach and in 2020 he became a part of the advisory board of Hertha Berlin. In May 2021, he was removed from his role.

Ashley Cole – DF
After graduating from Arsenal’s youth system, Ashley Cole was promoted to the senior side in 1999. He remained at the club till 2006 after which he joined Chelsea where he spent the next eight seasons.

He also played for AS Roma and La Galaxy and in 2019 after spending six months with Derby County, Cole announced his retirement from professional football. In July 2021, the former England international was appointed as the assistant coach of Lee Carsley in the England Under-21 side.

Martin Keown – DF
The English central defender played at Arsenal in two stints, (1984-1986) and (1993-2004). Keown later played for Leicester City and Wembley and retired in 2005.

After retirement, he joined the coaching staff of AFC Newbury. He also coached Oxford University Blues Football Team for a brief period in 2007.

Lauren – DF
The Cameroonian full-back played at Arsenal from 2000-2007. He then moved to Portsmouth in 2007 where he spent the next two seasons. In 2010, he announced his retirement from professional football after spending a season at Cordoba.

Lauren is currently an Arsenal ambassador for the African continent.

Pascal Cygan – DF
The French defender played at Arsenal from 2002-2006. He then moved to Villarreal and then to Cartagena from where he retired in 2011. He is currently an age-group coach at Belgian club Royal Excel Mouscron.

Gael Clichy – DF
The French full-back played at Arsenal for eight seasons before moving to Manchester City in 2011. In 2017 he left the Cityzens to join Istanbul Basaksehir where spent three seasons. Since 2020, Clichy had been playing for Swiss Super League side Servette FC.

Sol Campbell – DF
The English defender joined Arsenal in 2001 from rivals Tottenham Hotspur and spent five seasons at the club. He later played for Portsmouth and Notts County FC before returning to Arsenal for the second half of the 2009/10 season. He last played at Newcastle United before retiring from professional football in 2011.

In 2017 Campbell joined the Trinidad and Tobago national team as an assistant coach to Dennis Lawrence. A year later he took over as the coach of Macclesfield Town. In October 2019, Campbell joined League One side Southen United where he worked as their head coach until June 2020.

Kolo Toure – DF
Toure played at Arsenal from 2002-2009. He later moved to Manchester City, Liverpool and Celtic. He retired from professional football in 2017. Immediately after retiring from football, Toure joined the coaching staff in Ivory Coast’s Under-23 side.

In September 2017, he joined Brendan Rodgers’ coaching staff at Celtic and after Rodgers joined Leicester City in 2019, Toure followed him and joined the Premier League side’s coaching staff.

Patrick Vieira – MF
The legendary French midfielder played at Arsenal for nine seasons between 1996 to 2005. He later played for Juventus, Inter Milan and finally retired at Manchester City.

He was appointed as manager of MLS side New York City FC where he worked for two seasons before taking over Ligue 1 side Nice as head coach. Last month Vieira was unveiled as Crystal Palace’s new manager.

Robert Pires – MF
The French winger and Arsenal legend played at the North London club for six seasons from 2000-2006. He later played for Villarreal and Aston Villa. Pires retired from professional football after playing for FC Goa in the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) season.

Freddie Ljungberg – MF
The Swedish midfielder donned the Arsenal shirt for nine seasons between 1998 and 2007. Ljungberg later played for MLS side Chicago Fire and Scottish giants Celtic. Like his former teammate Pires, the midfielder retired after playing in the inaugural season of the ISL for Mumbai City FC.

In his coaching career, Ljungberg worked with the Arsenal Under-15 and the Under-23 team as head coach. He also worked at Wolfsburg as an assistant coach. In December 2019, he took over as the interim head coach of the Arsenal senior team after Unai Emery left the club.

He worked as the club’s head coach until Mikel Arteta’s appointment in 2020. With Arteta taking over, Ljungberg became the club’s first team coach.

However, he left the club at the end of the 2019/20 season.

Jose Antonio Reyes – FW
The late Spanish midfielder played at Arsenal for three seasons from 2004 to 2007. Other than the Premier League giants, he played for top European sides like Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla.

In January 2019, he returned to Spain, after spending four months in China playing for Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard FC and joined Diego Capel at Extremadura UD. In June 2019, Reyes died in a car accident.

Dennis Bergkamp – FW
One of the greatest stars to have played for Arsenal, Dennis Bergkamp played at Arsenal for 11 years. Earlier he had played for Inter Milan and Ajax. In 2006 he retired from professional football.

Bergkamp worked as assistant manager at Ajax from 2011-2017. Recently, he was coaching on a part-time voluntary basis at Dutch side Almere City.

Sylvain Wiltord – FW
The French attacker played at Arsenal for four seasons after which he went back to France and played for several Ligue 1 clubs like Lyon, Rennes, Marseille, Metz and Nantes. He retired from professional football in 2012.

In 2015, he was seen on a French reality show Dropped, which literally dropped eight sports people into inhospitable environments to see how they coped.

He has recently also worked as a sports consultant.

Thierry Henry – FW
A France and Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry had two stints with the Gunners, from 1999-2007 and a loan spell in 2012. He retired from professional football in 2014 after spending four seasons with MLS side New York Redbulls.

After retirement, Henry joined the Belgium national team as an assistant coach in 2016 and worked for two years. In 2018, he joined AS Monaco as head coach and after a season he took over as the head coach of Montreal Impact. He rejoined the Belgian national team as assistant to Roberto Martinez’s assistant this year.

Ray Parlour – MF
The English midfielder and an Arsenal academy product played at the club for 12 years after which he played at Middlesbrough and Hull City before retiring from professional football in 2007.

Parlour has been seen in the role of a TV pundit recently.

Edu – MF
Brazilian midfielder Eduardo Gaspar joined Arsenal in 2001 and played at the club for four years after which he played for Valencia and Corinthians. He retired from professional football in 2010.

After retirement, he worked as the Director of Football at Corinthians. He was also a part of Carlos Queiroz’s coaching staff of the Iran national team at the 2014 World Cup. Since 2019, he has been working as the technical director of Arsenal.

Gilberto Silva – MF
The former Brazilian international joined Arsenal in 2002 and played for the next six seasons. He later played for Brazilian clubs like Panathinaikos, Gremio and Atletico Mineiro before retiring in 2013.

Gilberto Silva joined Panathinaikos as their technical director in May 2016, but left the job in December 2016. He runs a football consultancy business currently and represents Manchester United midfielder Fred.

Nwankwo Kanu – FW
The legendary Nigerian forward joined Arsenal in 1999 after playing for clubs like Ajax and Inter Milan. He played at Arsenal for five years before joining West Bromwich Albion. He retired from football after spending the last two seasons of his career at Portsmouth.

Jeremie Aliadiere – FW
The French forward played at Arsenal from 2001-2007. In between, he had moved to Celtic, West Ham United and Wolverhampton on loan. He retired from professional football in 2016 from Ligue 1 side Lorient.

He is currently in London and works for Arsenal’s media channel. — Goal.com