Chelsea’s ‘ridiculous’ Premier League record is equal to Arsenal Invincibles, it will never be broken

Chelsea’s defensive record from the 2004/05 Premier League season will never be beaten.

That is the view coming from talkSPORT’s Inside Chelsea show after the record survived yet another campaign with months to spare.

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Legendary Blues captain John Terry took to social media on Sunday to celebrate Arsenal conceding for the 16th time this season during their dramatic 3-2 defeat to Manchester United.

Why? Because it meant one of the biggest threats to his famous defence’s record of 15 goals conceded in one season ended with a whimper.

Terry said: “The record is safe for another season, so Petr Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Ricky Carvalho, William Gallas, it’s time to celebrate with a bottle, or a glass of red wine.

“I’m going for the bottle, full celebration tonight.

“Can this record of 15 goals conceded in one season ever be beaten? I am saying no.

“I have to say I was a little bit worried the way Arsenal started the season, but it’s only January and the record has already gone and it’s safe for another year.”

‘Truly ridiculous’

There were serious conversations about Arsenal challenging the record earlier in the season as Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Riccardo Calafiori established Europe’s tightest defence.

Given they conceded more goals in 23 games than the iconic Chelsea defence across a 38-game season, it emphasised the scale of Jose Mourinho‘s achievement 21 years ago.

And that is why our resident Chelsea fans believe one of the Premier League‘s most treasured records could be theirs forever.

Ex-Blues defender Jason Cundy said: “Look, there was a point early in the season where Arsenal looked like they could really threaten that record.

Best defences in Premier League history

“They were so stingy at the back and it looked like, wow, this is going to put this Chelsea record under real pressure. We’re still in January and the record can’t be broken.

“So it just goes to show we might never see – in our lifetime – that get beaten.

“JT must have a huge amount of pride in being part of the tightest, best defence the Premier League’s ever seen. You can’t argue with that.

“I’m proud of it, the fact it belongs to my club.”

Chelsea broadcaster Matisse Armani was asked if it will ever be beaten and responded: “No, I don’t think so. I genuinely don’t think so. I think that record is truly ridiculous.”

According to Matisse, the achievement of Terry and Mourinho’s defence is just as impressive as Arsenal’s unbeaten campaign of 2003/04 – in which they became immortalised as the Premier League’s only ever ‘Invincibles’.

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“I think it’s just as hard to do as the ‘Invincibles’,” he added.

“Arsenal do talk about that and rightly so, but for us, that record there, 15 goals conceded over 38 games…

“Not only do you need to be a little bit lucky with injuries and you don’t want to rotate your back line, you don’t want to see backup goalkeepers or backup fullbacks coming into it, but we’re talking about legendary defenders and a legendary goalkeeper.

“The height of concentration constantly and racking up clean sheets for fun to the point where when we took the lead and went 1-0 up, that was game done and over.

“For me, that won’t be broken.”