So far in our series covering the best Premier League teams seen this century, we’ve covered the Manchester United side who kicked off the Millennium in dominating fashion, visited the Arsenal teams that conquered Britain in both 2002 and 2004 and considered the might of Mourinho’s first Chelsea side who broke records.

In 2006/07, however, the re-emergence of Manchester United would once again change the way we looked at the legacy of Sir Alex Ferguson. It was one thing to turn United, perennial league underachievers, from a side hopeful of a cup victory at best in the 1980’s into a ruthless title-winning machine in the 1990’s. It was quite another to go on and win the fabled treble of the League, F.A. Cup and European Cup in 1998/99, paving the way for three titles in a row at the turn of the new century.

To overcome an Arsenal side who had their pick of some of the best French players in the country’s history as well as a Chelsea team bankrolled by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was something completely different. So how did Ferguson and United achieve what they did in 2007 and beyond, putting together their second run of three titles in a row?

Looking back at the start of that season now, 14 years on, it’s hard to see how United could even rely on their two biggest stars in Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. The two men had clashed in what was the flashpoint of the 2006 World Cup in a game between England and Portugal that saw Rooney sent off in disgrace, a decision helped along by a winking Ronaldo.