The Premier League has produced some of the most dominant club sides in football history. With a new title race reaching its conclusion, the debate over the greatest champions has never felt more relevant, and Premier League winner odds are reflecting just how competitive the modern era has become. But which sides truly stand apart? Here is a look at some of the most exceptional title-winning campaigns the division has ever seen.
Manchester City 2017/18: The Centurions
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City did not just win the Premier League in 2017/18. They redefined what winning it could look like. City accumulated 100 points across the season, a record that still stands, playing a brand of football that combined relentless pressing with intricate passing and devastating forward runs.
Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, and Kevin De Bruyne were the most feared attack in the division, while the full-back pairing of Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy offered width and energy in equal measure. City finished 19 points clear of second-placed Manchester United, winning the title in late April with five games to spare.
The following season, 2018/19, brought further evidence of City's sustained excellence. They finished on 98 points in a title race that went to the final day, pipping Liverpool by a single point in one of the closest and most intense battles the Premier League has ever produced.
Arsenal 2003/04: The Invincibles
No side in the Premier League era has matched what Arsenal achieved in 2003/04. Arsene Wenger's team played 38 league games, won 26 and drew 12, finishing the season without a single defeat. Thierry Henry was exceptional, finishing as top scorer with 30 goals, while Patrick Vieira led the side with authority from midfield.
The Invincibles finished 11 points clear of Chelsea and conceded just 26 goals across the entire campaign. The record has stood for more than two decades and, given the demands of the modern game, may never be surpassed.
Chelsea 2004/05: The Special One
Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2004, declaring himself a special one, and his first season in English football largely backed the claim. Chelsea won the Premier League with 95 points, conceding only 15 goals across 38 games. The defensive record remains the best in the division's history.
John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho were outstanding at centre-back, Claude Makelele provided the midfield anchor, and Frank Lampard contributed 13 league goals from deep. It was a title built on organisation, structure, and an almost total refusal to be broken down.
Mourinho's second season brought another title, but Chelsea's 2016/17 triumph under Antonio Conte deserves a mention of its own. That side remains the only team to win the Premier League playing with a back five, with Conte's 3-4-3 system perfectly suited to the pace and directness of Eden Hazard, Pedro, and Diego Costa. It was tactical innovation meeting individual quality, and it worked brilliantly.
Liverpool 2019/20: Ending the wait
Liverpool's 2019/20 title ended a 30-year wait for the club's first league championship and came after one of the most emotionally charged build-ups in recent memory. Jurgen Klopp's side had finished second the previous season with 97 points, only to be pipped by City's Centurions-level consistency.
When the title finally came, it arrived in the most unusual circumstances. Liverpool were 25 points clear at the top when the pandemic suspended the season in March 2020. Play resumed in June behind closed doors, and the title was confirmed at an empty Anfield via Chelsea's victory over City. The players celebrated without fans, and the trophy was lifted on a pitch surrounded by silence. It was a bittersweet conclusion to a campaign that had deserved a much louder ending.
Manchester United 1999/2000: Keeping up the pace
Manchester United's 1999/2000 title is sometimes overlooked, given the drama of the treble the season before, but it was a formidable achievement in its own right. Sir Alex Ferguson's side finished on 91 points, 18 clear of second-placed Arsenal, in a display of ruthless consistency from a squad that could have been forgiven for a post-treble dip in focus.
Roy Keane was dominant in midfield, the front three of Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remained dangerous, and the defence conceded just 45 goals. It was a statement that United were not going to rest on what they had achieved the previous May.
The debate goes on
The football betting markets are always quick to reflect which modern sides appear capable of matching these historic benchmarks, and the current generation of title contenders are regularly measured against this list.
Each of the sides above achieved something specific: a record points haul, an unbeaten season, a defensive milestone, a comeback from heartbreak, or the ability to back up a historic treble. That variety is part of what makes the question so compelling, and so difficult to answer definitively.
