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With a World Cup and a Euro win under his belt, Robert Pires arrived at Highbury with some reputation to boot. Although he initially struggled to meet the rigors of the English game, something he was first to admit, with time he sure left his mark. Despite having missed the final stages of the 01-02’ title-winning campaign, his team mates still bowed down to him as he lifted the title, an obvious attempt to acknowledge his contribution to the team’s success. But things were about to get even better..

An 11Gunners appreciation of the best Playmaker/Winger of our times ..

Boasting a playmaker’s vision and a striker’s instinct in equal measure, Pires was often the lynch-pin of Arsenal’s left-sided ‘Awesome Threesome’ i.e. Cole-Pires-Henry. The triumvirate was regarded as the best such combination in entire Europe. They were unplayable at times with their interplay, it seemed for most parts they had the moves rehearsed beforehand. His unusual running style was deceptive and it went well with his uncanny ability to make those darting runs into the box. Although a winger, his returns during the 03-04’ season would have put the best of forward’s to shame. 19 goals in all, apart from all the assists he came up with, surely made him the best in his position back then. His Gallic pairing with Thierry Henry fetched Arsenal no less than 57 goals during the season. Add to that the overlapping runs by Ashley Cole and we can have a fair idea why were they unstoppable once unleashed in tandem. When he poached, he poached, when he didn’t, he came up with some stunning goals over the years. Pires had his best season at Arsenal that year and helped the team immensely in achieving what it eventually did.

Arsenal won the League that year. Winning the league is one thing, doing so without tasting defeat is something else. History was made and he became a part of it. Arsenal were the ‘Unstoppables’, the ‘Unbeatables’ and Robert Pires thus became an:

INVINCIBLE