Arsene Wenger's best XI - Celebrating 1000 games in charge of Arsenal

With this Saturday's match against Chelsea being Arsene Wenger's 1000th game in charge of Arsenal (and not many manager's can boast that kind of reign in the modern era), I thought I'd take a stab at the greatest eleven he could put out, from those he has had the pleasure of managing while at Arsenal.

Thinking over his eighteen years in charge of our club, he wonders where the time has gone in an exclusive interview with Arsenal Media. Of course a lot has happened over those years with its ups and downs. One of his greatest moments he says is the 2-1 win at the Emirates against Barcelona in 2011, but what about the double winning seasons of 1998 and 2002 - and claiming the Premier League on different occasions at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane? The invincibles! 

Some of the slumps which come to mind are the 2-1 FA Cup loss to Liverpool in 2001, the Champions League cup final defeat of 2006, and League Cup final defeats to Birmingham and Chelsea. Obviously not winning anything in the last nine seasons is pretty disheartening and the game has changed a lot since the 'good days'. 

However we still have the same manager who has guided us to past glories, and we probably wouldn't be doing much better if a man with his control was replaced any time soon. 

So, here's my starting XI (oh and in a 4-4-2 formation like it should be) ;)

GK: David Seaman

LB: Ashley Cole

CB: Tony Adams

CB: Sol Campbell

RB: Lee Dixon

LM: Robert Pires

CM: Patrick Vieira

CM: Emmanuel Petit

RM: Freddie Ljungberg

ST: Dennis Bergkamp

ST: Thierry Henry

Subs: Keown, Lauren, Bould, Overmars, Petit, Wright, Bergkamp.

Arsene Wenger.

To be honest there are a number of players who should make the list i.e. Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Gilberto Silva...maybe even Aaron Ramsey if he keeps up the kind of form and football he was playing before his injury earlier this season. 

Speaking of which, Ramsey and Santi Cazorla have extended their contracts with us, following the recent contract renewals of Metesacker and Rosicky. I don't think Sagna's contract will be renewed with the other big one being Wenger's own contract which also expires this summer. As the Metro put it, he's 1000 not out, but how many more games will he go on to manage Arsenal for?

The title challenging clash between Chelsea and Arsenal kicks off at 12:45pm (GMT) on Saturday.

Torres hassles Vermaelen in a previous fixture between the two sides.