PATRICK VIEIRA HAS backed Chelsea to match the Arsenal Invincibles’ unbeaten season.
The former midfielder captained the Gunners as they avoided defeat for the entire 2003-04 campaign before Manchester United ended their 49-game run.
Chelsea have started the season with seven wins and a draw from their opening eight games, and Vieira – who currently coaches Manchester City’s reserve side – has hinted that Jose Mourinho’s men are capable of replicating Arsenal’s achievement.
The Blues travel to Old Trafford on Sunday two points better off than Arsenal were at the same stage of the campaign eleven years ago.
“Of course [Arsenal's feat can be matched],” he is quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
“Records are out there for teams to beat. I think a team will do better than that, but how long it will take we don’t know. Maybe, Chelsea.”
“I think one day that record will be beaten. I think that Chelsea look really promising. They have not especially played well but they keep winning and they look really strong.
“Physically, Chelsea look one of the strongest teams in the Premier League. They’ve got quality in [Eden] Hazard, [Cesc] Fabregas is back to his best and [Diego] Costa is scoring goals. So Chelsea look good.”
Vieira admits there are similarities between Jose Mourinho’s side and the Gunners one that won the league in 2003-04.
“We achieved that record because we were quite close [off the pitch] and we were a strong team on it. And when you have quality in the team like Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, it gives you more chance to achieve this kind of achievement.
“We had Thierry at his best. We always knew he was going to score and Dennis was going to create something. We had our togetherness. We had a really strong bond. We knew if we went 1-0 down we would score, because we had the players to do so.
“That team had everything. Physically we were really strong, we had players who were fantastic on the ball. We also had players who could score. So we had everything in that generation. It was the complete team.”
Arsene Wenger’s side went 49 games unbeaten as they strolled to the Premier League title with an eleven point cushion over Chelsea. Their run of games without defeat was eventually ended with a 2-0 defeat to United.
