Arsene Wenger's highs and lows

War zone: Arsene Wenger and Alan Pardew square up to each other

11 April 2012

As Arsene Wenger becomes the longest-serving Arsenal manager in history we take a look at the best and worst moments of his career.

Highs

September 1996: Signs little known Patrick Vieira for £3 million – Before Wenger joined Arsenal he demanded that Patrick Vieira be signed. The little known midfielder was signed cheaply from Milan and became a legend and the first evidence of Wenger's shrewd transfer ability.

May 1998: Wins league and cup double – In his first full season in charge of the club they made up a 12 point deficit on Manchester United and eventually won the league with two games to spare. This was topped off with a 2-0 win over Newcastle in the FA Cup final.

August 1999: signs Thierry Henry for £10.5 million – When Wenger signed Henry from Juventus questions were asked since he had had a fairly poor first season in Italy playing on the wing and Arsenal had paid a substantial amount of money for him. Despite also struggling initially, under Wenger's guidance he was retrained as a striker and went on to become one of the Premier League's best players and the all-time leading scorer in the club's history.

May 2002: Second league and cup double – Another great season where the club went unbeaten away from home and scored in every single game. They capped the season off with a 1-0 win over Manchester United and beat Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup final.

2003/4 season: Gunners go unbeaten for entire 2003/4 season – This season was Arsene Wenger's proudest achievement. Arsenal became the first top flight English team to complete this feat since Preston in 1888/9. The run ended after 49 games unbeaten when they lost 2-0 to Manchester United.

Lows

May 2000: Lose to Galatasary in UEFA Cup Final on penalties – In the club's first European Cup final since Wenger took charge the game went through normal and extra-time goalless and so reached penalties. A poor show from Arsenal saw them miss two out of 3 and Galatasary won 4-1 in a disappointing end to the campaign.

October 2000: Wenger was hit with a 12 match touchline ban and fined four weeks wages when found guilty of threatening behaviour and physical intimidation towards fourth official Paul Taylor in a game against Sunderland. On appeal the ban was overturned.

May 2006: Lose to Barcelona in Champions League final – After a very impressive run through the competition where they knocked out Real Madrid and Juventus and did not concede a goal after the group stage, Arsenal were entitled to feel like they could win the competition. Even after keeper Jens Lehman was sent off 18 minutes in, Arsenal took the lead. Yet a late charge by Barcelona won them the game 2-1. This was a difficult defeat for Wenger to take.

December 2006: touchline bust up with Alan Pardew – Following West Ham manager Alan Pardew's celebrations of a late winning goal which sealed a 1-0 victory over Arsenal, Wenger pushed the manager and a scuffle broke out. Eventually the two men had to be separated and Wenger was fined £10,000.

March 2009: Champions League quarter-final defeat – Following a 1-0 loss away at Old Trafford, Arsenal played Manchester United at home in the second leg and were hopeful of a good result. However the Gunners were completely outplayed and succumbed to a 3-1 defeat, making it 4-1 on aggregate. Wenger has named this his lowest point as Arsenal manager.

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