John Terry: Chelsea were as good as Arsenal’s Invincibles

John Terry has claimed that the Chelsea squad that won the club’s first Premier League title in 2004-05 were on par with the Arsenal group that went unbeaten the previous season. 

The erstwhile captain of the West London club made those remarks after being inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame, becoming the fourth retired player to have represented the Blues in the top flight, joining Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and Ashley Cole.  

Terry made 492 Premier League appearances from the 1998-99 season until his final year in the club's 2016-17 league-winning campaign under Antonio Conte, even if the centre-back was a peripheral figure. 

Speaking after his induction into the Hall of Fame, the five-time Premier League-winning captain believes the Chelsea side that won the club’s first top division crown under Jose Mourinho in 2005 was equal in quality to Arsene Wenger’s team that claimed the previous year’s league crown.

"I'm going to upset a couple of people here, but I think that season (2004-05) was as good as the Invincibles season for Arsenal,” said John Terry. “They drew an awful lot of games.

"We only lost once, away to Man City, Paulo Ferreira gave away a penalty early on in the game and we should have come back and won the game.  

"When you look at the goals we conceded that year, we conceded against sides you wouldn’t expect if I'm honest and that's no disrespect to them. Looking back today. That could have maybe been nine or 10 goals conceded.  

"I don't think it's a record that's ever going to be beaten if I'm honest. I certainly hope it’s not and I’m very proud of what we did defensively.

"That's what we were paid to do, keep the ball out the net. It obviously helped with players around me like Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and Ricky Carvalho, so I’m very thankful for that."

Terry is currently coaching in the Chelsea academy, having had roles at Aston Villa and Leicester City before returning to his old club.