For three consecutive seasons, 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, the Premier League provided three of the four Champions League semi-finalists, an unprecedented level of dominance. In truth, this wasn’t converted into enough outright success, and it’s notable that in four consecutive years – Arsenal in 2006, Liverpool in 2007, Chelsea in 2008 and Manchester United in 2009 – each member of the ‘Big Four’ was a defeated finalist. It took an all-Premier League final, in 2008, for an English club to taste success, as Manchester United defeated Chelsea after a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

Manchester United were unquestionably the Premier League’s best side; in this three-year period, they won the title every season. The defensive quartet of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra was so cohesive that all four were voted into the PFA Team of the Year for 2006/07, the only time this has happened in Premier League history, while Edwin van der Sar was United’s best goalkeeper since Peter Schmeichel, keeping an incredible, record-breaking 14 consecutive clean sheets midway through 2008/09. The midfield was boosted by the addition of Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, while Paul Scholes played an increasingly withdrawn role and became an outstanding deep-lying playmaker.

Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions Show all 29 1 /29 Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions Who are the greatest Premier League champions? The Independent's Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney runs through his list of greatest Premier League winning sides. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 28. Blackburn Rovers 1994-95 Points per game: 2.12 Other trophies: none Another win that is memorable for the events that led to it and the unique identity of the winners, rather than what they did. That an Alan Shearer-powered Blackburn Rovers lost on the last day but still won the league said a lot about their quality, but also about how dramatic this campaign was. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 27. Manchester United 2000-01 Points per game: 2.11 Other trophies: none Still too good for England, but the signs were there that United’s treble team were no longer as good as they had been, in what was maybe Ferguson’s most forgettable title win. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 26. Manchester United 1992-93 Points per game: 2 Other trophies: none United’s first in 26 years, as illustrated by just how many moments of doubt they suffered before pretty much learning how to win the league on the job. This was really United’s most emotional wins, rather than their most impressive. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 25. Manchester United 1996-97 Points per game: 1.97 Other trophies: none The Class of 92 were coming into their own, but still not quite the top-class group they would become. It just wasn’t a very high-class season, as the challengers - and retiring Eric Cantona - all faded. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 24. Leicester City 2015-16 Points per game: 2.13 Other trophies: none One of football’s great stories and achievements, and a genuinely fine team when fully functioning, but that doesn’t necessarily make them close to the greatest champions. It still feels like they needed a thousand things to fall into place at exactly the same time, in a way other title-winners would not have. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 23. Manchester United 2012-13 Points per game: 2.34 Other trophies: none Ferguson’s final statement, as he expressly signed the free-scoring Robin van Persie to win the title. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 22. Manchester United 2010-11 Points per game: 2.1 Other trophies: none One of those campaigns when Ferguson had so clearly perfected the rhythm of winning titles. This was far from a brilliant United side in what was a generally underwhelming Premier League campaign, but it was one still able to reach the Champions League final too. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 21. Manchester United 1999-2000 Points per game: 2.4 Other trophies: none United’s 1999 Champions League win had put them onto another level, and well above the rest of the Premier League, but this was almost like Chelsea 2005-06 in that it all felt too easy to really push the side to their best. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 20. Manchester United 2002-03 Points per game: 2.18 Other trophies: none United’s grittiest title win of the Premier League era, as they really ground it out with Arsenal, at the height of the Ferguson-Wenger rivalry. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 19. Manchester City 2013-14 Points per game: 2.34 Other trophies: League Cup So often supreme to watch, and maybe played the best football that season, but the way that Liverpool collapsed and Chelsea lost a lead fosters the feeling that they didn’t quite drive to the title in the way the 2011-12 team did. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 18. Manchester United 1995-96 Points per game: 2.16 Other trophies: FA Cup The most famous run-in, and the most entertaining, as Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel and Roy Keane helped a group of kids magnificently mature over the course of a double campaign. The oddity was that, as defining as this season became, it was arguably a team between eras. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 17. Chelsea 2014-15 Points per game: 2.37 Other trophies: League Cup Never budged in the table, but only because were forced to budge in approach, remarkably going from a brilliant open side to a very closed one. There was a slight element of crawling over the line, and signs of what was to come. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 16. Manchester United 1993-94 Points per game: 2.19 Other trophies: FA Cup Ferguson’s most muscular United, as perfectly displayed by how they were the only side other than Chelsea 2014-15 to never move from top spot once in the season. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 15. Chelsea 2005-06 Points per game: 2.4 Other trophies: none A team whose very strength actually maybe took a little off their edge, certainly in terms of perception. Mourinho’s first Chelsea were by that point so much better than everyone else that it made the race a foregone conclusion, but maybe dulled them for both the foregone conclusion of the run-in and the cups. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 14. Manchester United 2006-07 Points per game: 2.34 Other trophies: none Maybe Ferguson’s most thrilling attacking team, and the one that heralded his return to the very top. United were facing one of the most physically intimidating and domineering champions ever in Chelsea, so to best them with such exuberant football was all the more impressive. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 13. Manchester City 2011-12 Points per game: 2.34 Other trophies: none So nearly threw it away on more than one occasion, but that only made their eventual win all the more impressive, and famously spectacular. Their points haul is also hugely creditable for first-time champions, not least for how it saw them hold off all the title experience of a Ferguson United. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 12. Chelsea 2016-17 Points per game: 2.44 Other trophies: FA Cup final This was hyped as one of the most competitive Premier Leagues ever given it had its finest ever collection of managers so, whatever about the debate regarding the lack of European football, it reflects very well on this Chelsea that they have ultimately won it so easily and so early. That cannot be talked around that easily. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 11. Chelsea 2009-10 Points per game: 2.26 Other trophies: FA Cup The top-scoring team in Premier League history, who roared to a double with so many rampant, but the only lingering question is whether they quite had top opposition. United had not signed well after the departures of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, while Liverpool fell apart. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 10. Arsenal 1997-98 Points per game: 2.05 Other trophies: FA Cup One of the great title comebacks, from one of the great football revolutions. Wenger’s transformation of Arsenal’s old guard saw them go into overdrive towards the end of the season and win 10 in a row, including a double. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 9. Arsenal 2001-02 Points per game: 2.29 Other trophies: FA Cup A beautifully balanced team, and one that went on a brutally devastating run to sweep all competition away. These were the double-winners that claimed 13 league wins in a row and made it 14 the following season, while also clinching the title away to Manchester United and providing Arsene Wenger with the psychological seed for the Invincible season. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 8. Manchester United 2008-09 Points per game: 2.37 Other trophies: League Cup Not quite as commanding as the previous season, as illustrated by how they just fell in the Champions League final and also recorded fewer points in a more stuttering campaign, but showed immense reserve to respond to Liverpool’s surge by claiming seven runs in a row in the run-in to also win the title. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 7. Arsenal 2003-04 Points per game: 2.37 Other trophies: none An utterly divine side, and Arsenal’s greatest… but also one responsible for one of football’s great ironies. Arsene Wenger’s best team famously and supremely went unbeaten in the domestic league season, only to then lose the biggest game of all - the Champions League quarter-final - to a team a few miles away in Chelsea. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 6. Manchester United 1998-99 Points per game: 2.08 Other trophies: Champions League, FA Cup Perhaps the most entertaining champions of all, but that is oddly the only reason they are not top of this list, despite topping the three major competitions that season - including the continent. They were not necessarily the best Premier League champions, but the most resilient; the most resolute. Unlike United 2007-08 or Chelsea 2004-05, this United were a team oddly easy to get at, but that weakness made them great and made them entertaining because of how many spectacular comebacks it brought. Their return of 79 points is actually surprisingly low, but was just something else they overcame to reach the ultimate heights. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 5. Manchester City 2018-19 Points per game: 2.58 Other trophies: League Cup and an FA Cup final to come They rattled off 14 successive victories to close out the season and deny a Liverpool side able to put up 97 points - which would have been enough to win the championship in any other season in English football history but the last two seasons. Pep Guardiola's side were relentless in marching down Jurgen Klopp's side. Their depth has seen them through: Kevin de Bruyne's contribution has been minimal, while Riyad Mahrez, signed for £60m last summer, has struggled at times. They simply would not be denied. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 4. Chelsea 2004-05 Points per game: 2.5 Other trophies: League Cup They weren’t quite invincible, but they often felt untouchable. Whatever about all the debate about Jose Mourinho now, there could be no debate about the overwhelming quality of his first Premier League champions. This Chelsea recorded the highest ever points-per-game record in English history, and simply never looked like they were going to be caught. So many games were so well controlled, as was the destination of the trophy. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 3. Manchester City 2017-18 Points per game: 2.63 Other trophies: League Cup A record-breaking season that saw City reach new magisterial heights under the genius of Pep Guardiola. After struggling to adapt during the Catalan's first season in charge, Guardiola's ideas finally came to fruition in the 2017/18 season in which City blew their rivals out of the water, ending the campaign on 100 points - 19 ahead of second-placed United. Utterly dominant and supreme, from start to finish, City were an expression of near perfection. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 2. Manchester United 2007-08 Points per game: 2.29 Other trophies: Champions League With one of the finest defences England has ever seen, with Cristiano Ronaldo reaching another level, and with the way the Chelsea team they held off were also beaten in the Champions League final, this was probably Sir Alex Ferguson’s most complete United side. They were thereby probably the Premier League’s most complete champions, too. Getty Miguel Delaney ranks all the Premier League champions 1. Liverpool 2019-20 Points per game: 2.77 Other trophies: Uefa Super Cup, Fifa Club World Cup They were never once off the top, which is one of many reasons they just can’t be off the top here. The main reasons are those 27 wins from 30 games. There has, quite simply, never been a level of dominance like it. There may of course be wider economic reasons for that, but the fact they ended up 20-plus and 40-plus points ahead of wealthier rivals means they just have to be ahead of everyone here. Add to that they were defending European champions, and it’s difficult to take anything away from this Liverpool. They’re just much less fallible than everyone else. Getty

More than anything, however, this side was defined by its attacking flair and versatility. The interchanging of positions between Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo was spectacular at times, with the latter producing arguably the best-ever individual Premier League campaign in 2007/08 with 31 goals in 31 starts, realising his ambition of becoming the world’s best by winning that year’s Ballon d’Or. He represented an entirely new brand of Manchester United, because Ferguson – and assistant Carlos Queiroz – created Europe’s most complete side by playing without a genuine striker.

This was Queiroz’s second stint at United – he was Ferguson’s assistant in 2002/03, but left to become Real Madrid’s manager, before being dismissed after a year and returning to his old job as Old Trafford. Ferguson described Queiroz as “brilliant, just brilliant – outstanding, an intelligent, meticulous man” and deferred to him in terms of tactics. While the process of moving from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 had started upon Ruud van Nistelrooy’s arrival in 2001, with mixed results, this was still a controversial concept amongst United’s supporters. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea meant meant one-striker systems were considered a surefire sign of defensive football, and Queiroz became a target for some supporters, who blamed him for the shift away from United’s ‘traditional’ way of playing, even chanting ‘four-four-two!’ in protest at the new system. Queiroz hit back, somewhat unwisely, midway through 2005/06. “People have been crying out for us to use a 4-4-2 formation but in the Blackburn game we tried the system and we lost,” he complained. “That’s why football is a game in which imagination and, on many occasions, stupidity has no limits.”

United’s era of success, notably, started immediately after the departure of Van Nistelrooy in 2006. For all the Dutchman’s goals, he simply wasn’t appropriate for the type of side Ferguson and Queiroz wanted. He was little more than a penalty box poacher, whereas this new United team was based around movement, selflessness, cohesion and counter-attacking. After United won the title in 2006/07, Ferguson was asked whether he’d made two big decisions the previous year, sanctioning the departures of Van Nistelrooy and Roy Keane. “Well, Roy was, certainly, because he was such an influence on the club,” Ferguson replied. “But I’m not sure about Van Nistelrooy being a big decision at all.” That spoke volumes.

United’s most significant encounter that season was a two-legged Champions League tie against Roma. The second leg, an outstanding 7-1 victory Ferguson described as United’s greatest European performance during his tenure, was notable for brilliant performances from Carrick in his deep-lying playmaking role, and Alan Smith as an old-fashioned battering ram upfront.

But the first leg, a 2-1 defeat in Rome, was surprisingly more significant. Ferguson always learned his greatest lessons from European competition, and Roma boss Luciano Spalletti defeated United with an unusual system often described as 4-6-0. Their most advanced player was legendary captain Francesco Totti, considerably more of a number 10 than a number 9. He dropped deep, peeling off into midfield and creating space for teammates to exploit. Ferguson had ditched the pure goalpoacher, but Spalletti had ditched strikers entirely.

Berbatov joined in 2008 to add to United's supreme attack (Getty)

That summer, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer retired and Smith moved to Newcastle, while Louis Saha’s injury problems restricted him to just six league starts in 2007/08. Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson signed Carlos Tevez, a surprising move considering the Argentine was, like Rooney, a second striker rather than a pure goalscorer. But Ferguson had a plan. “I’ve read all these opinions about the two of them being identical,” he said. “I don't think they are at all. What you can say is they both have a similar physique, they are both two-footed, they are both quick-ish, they can both beat a man. I don't think it's a bad thing in terms of the similarities. When they get playing with each other they will hopefully get an understanding about where they are playing.” That was an intriguing quote. Ferguson didn’t suggest one would permanently play behind the other, or that one would be shifted wide. He instead envisaged them working out positional responsibilities naturally, gradually developing the understanding to dovetail and rotate. That’s precisely what happened.

During 2007/08, it was impossible to define Manchester United’s system. The rotation between the attackers – generally including Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez but sometimes one of Nani, Park Ji-Sung and Ryan Giggs too – was exceptional. At times United’s basic shape looked like a 4-3-3, on other occasions it was 4-4-2, but ultimately it was fluid, flexible and fantastic to watch. In some matches, particularly at home to weaker sides, the attackers had no set positions and simply had responsibility to cover the wide areas between them when possession was lost.

At this stage, such attacking fluidity was extremely rare in the Premier League, with the division still based around the structured systems that became popular when Mourinho and Rafael Benitez joined the league in 2004. Of course, Ferguson’s continued use of Park was almost exclusively because the Korean was hard-working defensively and nullified opposition full-backs effectively, but United’s level of attacking rotation was nevertheless completely different to everything else in the Premier League, and effectively marked the return of exciting, free-flowing attacking play after a period of defensive, cautious football.

Ronaldo and Rooney were unstoppable as United cantered to three consecutive Premier League titles (Getty)

Ronaldo thrived with this freedom. At times he’d play on the right, the left and through the middle at different points in the same match, with the likes of Rooney, Tevez and Park expected to fill in wherever required. Ronaldo was absolutely ruthless, simply positioning himself wherever was appropriate to get goals. “He sniffs blood, he will find the weakness in the back four,” Gary Neville recalled a few years later. “If he's not getting the left-back in the first 15 minutes, he'll switch to the right-back. If he's not getting the right-back, he'll switch to the left-centre-back. He'll find someone in your back four who is weak and doesn't like defending one-on-one, and against pace and power.”

Ronaldo had a perfect combination: Ferguson’s trust, Queiroz’s tactics, and individual training sessions with Renee Meulensteen. The highly-rated Dutchman worked with Ronaldo for hours, turning him into a ruthless goalscoring machine. It was a holistic process, all about getting Ronaldo to finish in an efficient rather than spectacular manner. It involved drawing diagrams, visualising goalscoring situtions, splitting the final third into zones to help his decision-making, giving colours to the corners of the goal and shouting them out as Ronaldo received the ball, encouraging him to target different points. He became unstoppable, and fired United to the European Cup in 2008.

That eventual success, a dramatic triumph after a penalty shoot-out victory against Chelsea in Moscow, was rather unfitting. That type of victory was more the 1999-era United – always finding a way – but during this period Manchester United were hugely dominant. They were capable of playing pure defensive football, possession football or thrilling counter-attacking football, and therefore must be considered the most tactically complete side of the Premier League era.