Which is the Greatest Premier League Side?

With Liverpool closing in on an historic quadruple (at the time of writing, at least), football fans are already talking about the current crop of Reds players as being one of the greatest ever.

There’s good reason for this too; particularly when you consider the quality of the Reds’ domestic opposition in the form of Manchester City and their trailblazing manager Pep Guardiola.

However, we often tend to forget about the great sides of the past and the scale of their accomplishments when ranking the top EPL sides through history, from Arsenal’s legendary ‘Invincibles’ to Manchester United’s groundbreaking treble win in 1999.

There are many ways in which you can rank teams too, creating a healthy and ongoing debate that’s unlikely to ever really be settled. However, here’s our picks for the top three Premier League sides of all time:

#3. Manchester United (1998 - 2001)

In third place is Manchester United’s legendary treble winners from 1999, who also dominated the Premier League for three glorious years between 1998 and 2001.

Featuring the iconic midfield quartet of David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, this United side lifted six trophies during these three years, winning two additional league titles and a World Club Cup alongside their treble haul.

Although United flattered to deceive in Europe immediately after winning the Champions League in the Nou Camp in 1999 (they exited in two consecutive quarter-finals to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively), they continued to dominate the EPL.

In fact, they won the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 EPL titles by a combined margin of 28 points, while plundering 176 league goals across these two campaigns.

In many ways, the utter dominance of this side was testament to their inherent quality and enduring will to win, with this arguably the second great team built by Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. Success in Europe and achieving the treble also elevates the side above most of their rivals, more than justifying their selection in third.

#2. Manchester City (2017 - 2021)

Perhaps somewhat harshly, the current Manchester City side is best known for failing to win the Champions League, despite a net spend well in excess of £1 billion] since the club was taken over back in 2008.

However, Manchester City truly dominated the domestic landscape between 2017 and 2021, winning three league titles during this time. They also won four successive League Cups, an FA Cup and two Community Shields during the same period, creating a total trophy haul of 10.

This City side also broke numerous records, becoming the first ever EPL side to reach 100 points during the 2017/18 season. The following year, City became the first ever English side to win the domestic treble, adding the Community Shield at the beginning of the year to boot.

At the same time, City also fought off tremendous competition from Jurgen Klopp’s relentless and indefatigable Liverpool side, who briefly ended their rival’s dominance by winning the title in 2020.

While the irresistibly brilliant nature of this side and their record breaking antics may make a compelling case for them to be higher on this list, the fact remains that City couldn’t combine domestic success with a European trophy.

This is a true test of greatness, and one that Pep Guardiola’s ‘Citizens’ have so far failed to pass.

#1. Manchester United (2006 - 2010)

We close with the great Manchester United side of the late noughties, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s rejuvenated Reds winning nine trophies during a stunning four-year period.

This included two Community Shield triumphs, while this United side also won three EPL titles, a Champions League, a World Club Cup and two League Cups.

Seven of these trophies were won between 2007 and 2009. Firstly, United won the league and Champions League double in 2007/2008, having lifted the Community Shield at the beginning of this season. The following year, the Reds retained their EPL crown and the Community Shield, while also winning the League Cup and the World Club Cup.

This team was built steadily after the so-called “Class of 92” was broken up, with United’s previous period of dominance having been ended by Arsenal and Chelsea between 2001 and 2006. Retaining evergreen talents like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, Ferguson added precocious young talent in the form of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, creating a skilful and experienced side that melded silk and steel in equal measure.

Ultimately, only Guardiola’s aforementioned City side have come close to replicating this sustained level of success over a four-year period, but the crucial difference here is that this United team managed to lift the Champions League while also completing a league and continental double in 2008.

The Last Word

Obviously, selecting the best EPL side of all-time is a challenging and subjective pastime, and one that may be influenced by a number of factors and biases. Some may also solely reference performance in the Premier League, placing an emphasis on points-per-game and eschewing achievements in Europe.

While domestic success is a key component when ranking the best ever EPL sides, we’d argue that priority has to be given to the teams that managed to combine their Premier League title wins with similar triumphs in Europe.

This is one of the reasons why Arsenal’s Invincibles are absent from the list, as they failed to come close to winning the Champions League and were unable to sustain their form consistently over time.

The same rule applies to Jose Mourinho’s first successful Chelsea side of the mid-noughties, as despite winning two consecutive EPL crowns they failed to progress beyond the semi-finals in the Champions League.