Invincible – incapable of being conquered, defeated, or subdued.

The word invincible is an adjective used little in sports.

After all, rarely in theatres of drama and competitive battles can a team or individual ever be incapable of being conquered, defeated, or subdued.

Arsenal of 2003/04 are now known as the invincibles after an undefeated season in which they were never conquered or defeated.

They were, however, occasionally subdued. In early April 2004 they were knocked out of the FA Cup in the semi finals by Manchester United and then beaten in the last eight of the Champions League by neighbours Chelsea. The following weekend they hosted Liverpool at Highbury and trailed 2-1 at half-time. The wheels appeared to be falling off. What followed was 45 minutes of breathtaking football, featuring a Thierry Henry hat-trick that gave them a 4-2 win and three more points. Their biggest test was passed and they would end the season with 26 wins and 12 draws. 90pts.

This season’s Manchester United team still have a long way to go to complete an undefeated league season but, during a year where every team has now lost at least five games, they are getting remarkably little attention in their own pursuit of immortality.

Forever professional, United did what they normally do on Saturday by taking apart a weak team at Old Trafford. The rest of the Premier League also did what they normally do on Saturday with a number of storylines ensuring United were pushed to the third or fourth page inside the sports sections once again as photos and words about Darren Bent, Man City and Kenny Dalglish dominated the back pages.

United’s five goals against Birmingham gave them 48 on the season, tied with Arsenal for the league lead, despite having played one game less than the Gunners. It also pushed their goal difference to +29, the best in the league. Statistics show they are the class of the league this season, yet no one is willing to come out and believe this team can go undefeated.

Last week Harry Redknapp ruled out their chances while Arsene Wenger felt the team had been lucky so far to remain unbeaten. No one can criticize the Frenchman for answering a question on United but his answer was inaccurate.

United have now played over 2000 minutes of Premier League football this season and have found themselves behind for a combined 41 minutes:

• At Everton they trailed 1-0 for 4 mins before Darren Fletcher cancelled out Steven Pienaar’s opener.
• At Bolton they trailed 1-0 for 17 mins before Nani cancelled out Zat Knight’s opener and trailed 2-1 for 7mins before Michael Owen leveled after Martin Petrov put Bolton ahead.
• At Aston Villa they went behind in the 72nd minute and trailed 2-0 before scoring in the 81st minute and leveling through Nemanja Vidic in the 85th minute.

Indeed the scare at Villa Park is the only game in their first 22 that they have come anywhere close to losing, and in the final minutes there was only one team who looked like winning it and it wasn’t Aston Villa.

Detractors such as Redknapp and Wenger could be right in assuming United will not go undefeated but after 22 matches they cannot deny that they have shown the look of a team of invincibles. A team that Sir Alex Ferguson has sent out to start games 22 times and each time they have come back into the dressing room, both at half and full time, undefeated.

With Old Trafford, as-ever, looking like a fortress it appears any losses for them this season will happen on the road and their games at Stamford Bridge, Anfield and the Emirates appear, on paper, to be their biggest tests left.

Should United get to the Emirates undefeated you can bet the talk of a new set of invincibles will heat up then. A victory will certainly put them on the back pages this time and, like Arsenal in 2004, secure the title by the end of April.

Six Super Stats from Old Trafford on Saturday:

• Manchester United won their seventh consecutive PL match at Old Trafford and are unbeaten in their last 27 PL matches in total stretching back nine months.
• Birmingham suffered their heaviest ever PL defeat and their biggest in the top flight in almost 25 years since a 5-0 defeat at Liverpool in April 1986.
• Dimitar Berbatov became the third player in PL history to score three or more hat tricks within a single season. The only others to achieve this feat were Alan Shearer (3 in 1994-95 & 5 in 1995-96) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (3 in 2002-03).
• Berbatov has now scored 17 PL goals this season, his most ever in a PL season. His previous best was 15 goals for Tottenham in 2007-08.
• Berbatov has scored 15 of his 17 PL goals at Old Trafford, netting ten in his last four home matches.
• If Manchester United avoid defeat against Blackpool midweek they will become only the fifth team in top flight history to go unbeaten in their opening 23 league matches after Arsenal (2003-04), Liverpool (1987-88), Leeds United (1973-74) and Arsenal (1990-91).

King Kenny wins and Meireles excels

Although United take top spot in the notebook headlines this week the notion of Kenny Dalglish winning a Premier League game as manager of Liverpool is still worth mentioning. Add to that the manor in which the victory occurred and suddenly the rollercoaster ride of being a Liverpool fan this season took a turn upwards once again.

Although Wolves were poor, particularly in defence, Liverpool’s movement and passing was outstanding.

Christian Poulsen still gives the ball away too often but Lucas had a great game and Raul Meireles once again impressed. The Portuguese international has been asked to play in a number of different roles this season and after a goal and an assist in the Steven Gerrard position, just off Fernando Torres, some now wonder whether this might be his best position. Such wondering must stop as it’s clear that position is better suited for Gerrard, but Meireles has shown himself as a real footballer to the Kop faithful. A team without Gerrard took apart Wolves on Saturday and although Meireles played well in his position, Dalglish must now find a way of playing both effectively in the same team, something Roy Hodgson failed to do. It is clear that Meireles is comfortable in a central role and looks suited to sit deeper and be both a creator and a destroyer for Liverpool. A look at his passing graph from the match against Wolves shows how good he is centrally. You will see that he gives the ball away more in the final third.
by Guardian Chalkboards

Six Super Stats from Molineux

• Liverpool picked up their first win under new manager Kenny Dalglish. This was his first victory in charge of the club since they beat Everton 3-1 at home in old Division One in February 1991.
• Liverpool ended a run of five consecutive away defeats, and picked up only their second away win this season.
• Liverpool kept their first clean sheet in seven PL matches, and first since a 3-0 home win against Aston Villa on December 6.
• Fernando Torres scored his second PL double this season, and his fourth ever away from home. He has previously netted doubles at Everton, Manchester City and West Ham.
• Torres scored his first ever PL goals against Wolves. He has now scored against 18 of the other 19 PL clubs currently in the division -the only team he has failed to score against is Birmingham City.
• Meireles has scored in back-to-back PL matches, having failed to score in his first 17 PL matches for the club. He has scored or assisted three of the club’s six PL goals under Dalglish. He provided a total of two PL assists and no goals under Roy Hodgson.

Bent makes instant impact.

The Bent count from Aston Villa fans at work on Monday was at +2. After just one game the record signing has already given Aston Villa two more points than they would have gotten without him. Inside the dressing room his team-mates spoke of +72, the amount of minutes Villa had the lead and were able to hang on to secure the three points. There’s something that can be said for how players play when leading a Premier League game and Villa haven’t had many chances to show what they can do from such a position this season. Their spine, consisting of holding midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, and centre-backs James Collins and Richard Dunne, reacted superbly while the theme of high pressing up the field under Gerard Houllier worked well once again. From that point of view it was their best performance since the draw at Chelsea but such tactics require incredible fitness and it will be interesting to see how they respond in their game against Wigan on Tuesday. After the display at Stamford Bridge on New Years Day they looked tired in their 1-0 home loss to Sunderland four days later. Houllier has had some tough battles off the field with players since he arrived but his strict approach now seems to be paying off. Amazing what a proven goalscorer can do for the confidence of the club’s defenders.

Six Super Stats from Villa Park

• Aston Villa recorded their first clean sheet since Halloween.
• This was Manchester City’s fifth PL defeat of the season, and second by a 1-0 scoreline. On the only other occasion they lost 1-0 Bent was also the only goalscorer – netting in Sunderland’s 1-0 home win on August 29.
• Aston Villa ended a run of five PL matches without a win and picked up their first PL victory of 2011.
• Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last seven PL home matches against clubs from Manchester.
• Bent scored on his PL debut for the third time, having previously achieved this for Charlton and Sunderland. In total, he has netted four goals in five PL debuts.
• Bent also became the first Villa player to score on their debut since Emile Heskey at Portsmouth on January 27, 2009.

Six Super Serie A stories

• Joseph Casciaro on a ‘vintage’ AC Milan in their win over Cesena.
• Paolo Bandini on the weekend in Italy.
• Zonal Marking on Inter’s loss to Udinese’s 3-5-1-1.
• James Horncastle on the return of Diego Simeone.
• Adam Digby on the lack of faith from Juventus fans.
• Goal.com on AC Milan’s new signing Urby Emanuelson.

Fast Fact – Oh Canada edition.

• David Hoilett became the first Canadian to score a PL goal since Newcastle United’s David Edgar on 28 Dec 2008. He was one of 22 different nationalities in the match, a number that sets a new record in PL history. The previous top mark was when 21 different nationalities appeared in a 5-0 Blackburn defeat to Chelsea on 24 Oct 2009.

Let’s hope we see Hoilett in a Canada shirt sooner rather than later!

For comments on that or anything else featured in the notebook this week please give me your feedback below. Can Utd go unbeaten? Is Man City’s title race over? Can Inter bounce back and contend?

Kristian Jack