7 Premier League Teams That Never Reached Their Full Potential

The Invincibles should have been so much more. Quite a statement, especially considering the high esteem in which the team is held. Make no mistakes, the 2003/04 Arsenal team was and will forever be one of the all time great football teams.

Few teams could combine movement, passing, finesse, skill and outright physicality quite like the Gunners of that era. Teams feared Arsenal. However, for all their talent and achievements as a squad, they never quite hit the heights we all knew they could in Europe.

A loss in the Champions League final in 2006 was the closest the team ever came to achieving ultimate glory. Every year, the same story seemed to play out. Almost, but not quite. While the Gunners would remain at the top end of English football for the rest of the decade, the rise of Chelsea and a resurgent Manchester United spelled the end for The Invincibles. Many a post-mortem have been conducted into why Arsenal didn't become the team of the noughties.

Some cite the fact that Wenger never truly replaced the likes of Vieira and Gilberto Silva, and that their transfer policy took a drastic downturn after the 2006 UCL final defeat. Others say Wenger went down the wrong path of how he wanted Arsenal to play, with a big change in philosophy happening after Cesc Fabregas' arrival in London.

However, the most accurate explanation came from Thierry Henry. Due to the club's ambitions of moving to the Emirates Stadium, the money simply wasn't there to compete with their rivals. Wenger had to change his philosophy according to the players he had and what he could afford. Simple as that.