Dynasty in Focus: Wenger's Arsenal 1996-2006 Quiz

Answer: Johan Cruyff

Cruyff was named as the favourite in an article written by The Times newspaper, and there were plenty of reasons to believe this. After all, Cruyff had just left his position at Barcelona, where he had established himself as the most successful manager in the history of the club. However, the club's vice-chairman David Dein insisted on appointing Wenger.

Wenger's arrival would revolutionise Arsenal, changing the club's training system, the diet of his players and restricting players from casually drinking together. These principles are now entrenched in the modern game.

Answer: Nicolas Anelka

Anelka joined Arsenal from Paris Saint-Germain for an undisclosed fee in February 1997, joining the Gunners roughly five months after Wenger arrived in North London. Petit and Grimandi were amongst Wenger's first signings, but neither player joined Arsenal until the summer of 1997. Vieira signed for Arsenal in the summer of 1996, a month before Wenger's arrival.

Answer: Arsenal had the biggest winning streak in Premier League history

Between 11 March 1998 and 3 May 1998, Arsenal won ten successive Premier League games, which became the longest streak in Premier League history. The highlight of this run was a 1-0 win against title rivals Manchester United on 14 March, which helped turn the title race in Arsenal's favour.

Arsenal came back from eleven points behind in 1997-98, but two years earlier Man United had recovered from a twelve point deficit on Newcastle United. Arsenal's 78 points were the second fewest at the time by a title winner as Man United scored a mere 75 in 1996-97. Dennis Bergkamp was Arsenal's top scorer in 1997-98 with 16 goals, while the joint golden boot winners in Blackburn Rovers' Chris Sutton, Coventry City's Dion Dublin and Liverpool's Michael Owen scored 18 goals.

Answer: Ray Parlour

Parlour put in a fine performance in the final, with his best moments including an assist for Nicolas Anelka to make it 2-0 and nearly scoring near the end to finish it off. Overmars was a threat for the entire game, scoring the game's opening goal in the first half. Adams was captain and leader of Arsenal's impenetrable defence. Vieira played the full 90 minutes also.

Answer: Ian Wright

Wright spent seven years with the Gunners between 1991 and 1998, scoring 185 goals to become the club's all-time top scorer. (Later broken by Thierry Henry) He joined West Ham United in 1998.

Overmars joined the Gunners in 1997 and left in 2000 to join Barcelona. After eleven years at Highbury, Bould left in 1999 to play for Sunderland. Dixon would leave much later, retiring in 2002 after 14 years at the club.

Answer: Undefeated in the Premier League at home

Arsenal made Highbury a fortress in the 1998-99 season. Out of their 19 home games, the team won 14 of them, drawing the remaining five games. Only Charlton Athletic, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur came away from Highbury without a loss.

While Arsenal thumped United 3-0 at Highbury, they could only muster a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. Arsenal's goal difference was +42 whereas Man United had a +43 differential (Arsenal finished with 78 pts vs United's 79 pts). The PFA Players' Player of the Year award was won by Tottenham's David Ginola.

Answer: 1999 Community Shield victory against Manchester United

Arsenal defeated Manchester United 2-1 in the 1999 Community Shield on 1 August 1999, with goals from Nwankwo Kanu and Ray Parlour giving the Gunners the victory.

Henry arrived in north London two days later, signing from Juventus. He would go on to become the club's all-time top scorer. The very next day, Anelka joined Real Madrid. This move scuppered Wenger's hope that Anelka and Henry would lead the line together. Dixon's testimonial was on 8 November 1999.

Answer: Fredrik Ljungberg

Ljungberg gave the Gunners a 1-0 lead in the 2001 FA Cup Final against Liverpool, but the Reds would win with two late goals from prodigious forward Michael Owen. The 2000 UEFA Cup final was a goalless affair, with Turkish side Galatasaray defeating the Gunners 4-1 on penalties.

While key players such as Henry were criticised in the media for failing to deliver in the big games, Wenger refused to play the blame game.

Answer: Champions League knockout appearance

Arsenal were eliminated in the second group stage of the 2001-02 Champions League, finishing three points behind eventual runners-up Bayer Leverkusen and Deportivo. The team had qualified for the knockouts in the competition for the first time in 2000-01.

Arsenal became the first club since the re-branding of the top flight in 1992 to go undefeated away from home. The team would replicate this feat when they went undefeated for the entirety of the 2003-04 Premier League season. Arsenal defeated United 3-1 and 1-0 in the league, and dismantled United 4-0 in the third round of the League Cup.

Answer: 4

The four players to start both finals were goalkeeper David Seaman, central defender Tony Adams (who was captain in both finals) and midfielders Ray Parlour and Patrick Vieira. Arsenal beat their London rivals Chelsea 2-0 in the 2002 final, thanks to second half goals from Parlour and Fredrik Ljungberg.

Answer: Media comments by Arsene Wenger

In the summer of 2002, Wenger was uncharacteristically boastful about his team's chances of retaining the Premier League title in 2003. He said, "Nobody will finish above us in the league. It wouldn't surprise me if we were to go unbeaten for the whole of the season." Keown said that this harmed the team's chances.

While United-Arsenal games in this era were notorious for dirty tackles and red cards, Arsenal players such as Patrick Vieira were often just as much to blame for the chaos as United players. Henry certainly had no problems with form, scoring 24 goals and assisting 20 in the Premier League.

Answer: Middlesbrough

Arsenal faced Middlesbrough in the semi-finals of the 2004 League Cup, a two-legged affair. Incredibly, the invincible Arsenal side were beaten in both legs with Middlesbrough winning the first leg 1-0 at Highbury before a 2-1 win at the Riverside Stadium in the second leg. Bolton's best result against Arsenal that year was a 1-1 draw at the Reebok Stadium in the Premier League.

United went unbeaten against Arsenal, drawing both league games and eliminating the Gunners from the 2004 FA Cup. Arsenal's other losses came in the Champions League against Dynamo Kiev, Inter Milan (both group stage) and Chelsea. (Quarter-finals)

Answer: Nottingham Forest

Forest went 42 consecutive games without defeat between 26 November 1977 and 9 December 1978. Arsenal's run had begun on 7 May 2003. It went through to 16 October 2004, a stretch of 49 successive games. The run eventually ended on 24 October with a 2-0 loss to Manchester United.

Answer: Thierry Henry becomes Arsenal's all-time top scorer

Henry scored twice in Arsenal's Champions League group stage win against Sparta Prague on 18 October 2005 to overtake Ian Wright as the club's greatest ever goalscorer. He also broke Cliff Bastin's record of 151 league goals on 1 February 2006 in a game against West Ham United.

Arsenal's last trophy of the Highbury era came five months earlier in May 2005, when the Gunners beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final. The club would not win another major trophy until the 2014 FA Cup. Vieira left in July 2005 following the emergence of Cesc Fabregas in the team's midfield. Wenger's 500th game was a 1-0 loss to Chelsea on 21 August 2005.

Answer: Kept ten successive clean sheets

After 2-1 wins against Swiss side Thun and Dutch giants Ajax in the group stage, Arsenal did not concede another goal until the final. Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal all failed to score in two legs against the Gunners. The four group games, combined with the six knockout games, means the Gunners had 10 clean sheets.

Barcelona actually had the most group stage goals with 16. Juventus, who Arsenal beat in the quarter finals, were defending Serie A champions but Real Madrid (Last 16) and Villarreal (semi-finals) finished second and third in La Liga in 2004-05. Barcelona had won the title.