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The Premier League is the most successful and financially lucrative Football division in the world.
Financially, the League was worth an incredible £2.4 billion in 2016-17 and is the most watched club competition in the world with an estimated reach of an eye-watering 4.7 billion people.
Established on the 20th February 1992, after the clubs in England's First Division, spearheaded by Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton decided to break away from the Football League and take advantage of a lucrative television deal with BSkyB. Ever since the media company won the rights to screen matches at a cost of £304 million, the League has grown and grown into the international powerhouse it is today.
Initially conceived as a way to improve the success of English teams in European competition by not sharing League income with the lower divisions, that business model has proved to be prophetic. English teams, since 1993 have won four Champions League titles, three UEFA Cup/Europa League titles and two Cup Winners Cups. Seven out of eight Champions League finals between 2005 and 2012 had English representation.
In 26 full seasons of the Premier League, only six different teams have ever won the trophy. Two of which, Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95 and Leicester City in 2015-16 were one time winners and have not come close to replicating their success since.
49 clubs in total have contested the League since it's inception and the first Premier League goal was scored by Sheffield United's Brian Deane in a 2-1 success over Manchester United.
In August 2018, the Premier League began its 27th season of operation as the excitement and glamour of the competition show no signs of abating.
This slideshow counts down the four most successful clubs from the Premier League era of 1993 to date.
=3 Arsenal (3 titles)
Prior to their first Premier League Championship win in 1997-98, Arsenal's last League success had come in 1990-91 when they bested Liverpool for the second time in three years to secure the title.
It had been a long wait to replicate that success as manager, George Graham resigned amid scandal and his replacement Bruce Rioch endured a torrid time as boss.
Cue little known Frenchman, Arsene Wenger who came to the club with little to no reputation and was mocked by the British media for his apparent resemblance to a school teacher.
However, after Wenger's appointment steadied the ship in 1996, wherein Arsenal ended the season in third place, he embarked on an aggressive recruitment campaign in the summer of 1997 to improve the team's fortunes still further.
Wenger most notably brought in Marc Overmars from Dutch giants, Ajax and Emmanuel Petit, Gilles Grimandi and Christopher Wreh from Monaco.
At the tail end of the previous season, he had also brought in young striker, Nicolas Anelka from Paris Saint Germain. The 19-year old would deliver on his promise in the 1997-98 season, scoring nine goals. Overmars smashed in 16 goals, remarkable, considering his position on the wing.
The new signings, coupled with an expansive, attacking style of Football saw Arsenal pip reigning Champions, Manchester United to win the title by a single point. Crucially, they defeated United home and away which effectively secured them the Championship. Arsenal also ran out FA Cup winners to win the Double - the first in their history.
Unlike Blackburn Rovers two years earlier, Arsenal demonstrated that they were not one hit wonders, and secured a second Premier League crown in 2001-02. They also repeated their Double success of four years earlier winning the FA Cup once more.
The biggest signing of that summer transfer window was Tottenham defender, Sol Campbell who arrived on a free, hugely acrimonious transfer from Arsenal's fierce North London rivals.
Campbell slipped seamlessly into Arsenal's backline, which shored up their defence, allowing their imperious attacking talents, Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord, Freddie Ljungberg, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires to run rampant.
Arsenal won the title by an impressive seven points over nearest rivals, Liverpool.
Arsenal's most recent League success came two years later in 2003-04 wherein the club went the whole season undefeated, only the second club to ever achieve this in England's top flight; a record stretching back to 1888-89 when Preston North End also achieved the feat. Dubbed the Invincibles, Wenger's Arsenal of 2003-04 are widely considered to be the greatest Premier League side of all time. Their unbeaten run stretched to 49 games into the 2004-05 season when it was ended in unforgettable style by Manchester United in the "Battle of Old Trafford."
One of the strongest performing teams in the history of the division, the Gunners have regrettably been a fading force for much of the last decade.
=3 Manchester City (3 titles)
At the conclusion of the 2000-01 season, when Manchester City were relegated from the Premier League for the second time, few City fans would have believed that 11 years later, they would be sitting atop the division as Champions.
However, that is exactly what occurred for the Citizens when their take-over plan and huge investment by Abu-Dhabi based owners employed back in 2008 finally paid dividends.
City, in the most dramatic conclusion to a Premier League season, ever scored the 3-2 winning goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to defeat Queen's Park Rangers, who had been leading 2-1 in the 90th minute to pip city rivals, Manchester United to the title on goal difference. That was the closest margin ever to determine the top division in English Football. Sergio Aguero was the hero that day and has been ever since for the greatest City side of all time.
City once again won the title in dramatic fashion in 2013-14, when Liverpool looked on course to win the Premier League for the first time since 1990 with two weeks to go but a loss to Chelsea and a draw with Crystal Palace saw them fall short by just two points. City won their final five games to snatch the title from the Merseysiders.
City won their Championship to date in 2017-18 where they led from the front for the entire season, finishing a mammoth 19 points ahead of second placed, United and became the first Premier League team to accrue 100 points in history.
With the best manager in World Football at the helm in Pep Guardiola, few would bet against City winning many more Championships in the near future.
#2 Chelsea (5 titles)
Jose Mourinho finally broke the dominance of the big two of Manchester United and Arsenal when he took over as Chelsea manager in the 2004-05 season.
Up until that point, United and Arsenal had won every single Premier League title between them, aside from 1994-95, but Chelsea were about to break that run.
Mourinho, coming off a League and Champions League Double with FC Porto, the previous year, brought his Midas touch to a Chelsea team that had not won the League Championship for 50 years.
Chelsea won the title by a huge 12 point margin and followed that success up the following season with another title success, this time by eight points.
It would be four more years before Chelsea regained the crown. When they did, it was by a far narrower margin, as they finished a single point above runners-up, United.
Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea for the 2013-14 season and the following year led them to his third and their fourth Premier League success. Chelsea led from the front from day one as they won their first six games of the campaign and never looked back, securing the title by eight points.
Chelsea's most recent title success came under new manager Antonio Conte, who adapted to life in his first season in English Football in 2016-17 embarking on a 13 game winning run from October to January which set them up to win the trophy.
With yet another new manager in post in Maurizio Sarri, it remains to be seen whether Chelsea can add to their five titles in the near future.
#1 Manchester United (13 titles)
Manchester United sit overwhelmingly at the top of the table as the most successful Premier League club in history.
Winning an incredible eight more titles than their nearest contenders, United dominated the division for 20 years between 1993 and 2013.
Sir Alex Ferguson managed United to all 13 League trophies.
His and United's first came during the inaugural Premier League season of 1992-93 where United ended their 26-year wait to win the top division in English Football. From there they never looked back.
United followed their 1992-93 success with an even greater season the following year as they secured the club's first ever Double of the Premier League and FA Cup. They achieved a further Double success in 1995-96 and retained the League crown again in 1997.
The greatest season in the club's and English Football history came in 1998/99 when United regained the Premier League title with a final day 2-1 victory over Tottenham and also won the FA Cup and Champions League to secure an unprecedented Treble. They again were the first English club to earn this distinction.
United then strolled to consecutive League defences in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, winning the League by margins of 18 points and 10 points respectively.
Further titles followed in 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11 and in Ferguson's final season in charge in 2012-13.
The 2012-13 success likely ranks as one of Ferguson's finest achievements as it came with a squad filled with veterans and a lack of central midfielders of genuine quality. The title win became even more widely praised when the same team and the addition of Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata could only muster seventh place in the League the following year, during David Moyes first and only season as boss.
Five years on and that remains United's most recent title win as this decade represents transition, not dominance. A second-placed finish last season in 2017-18 is their best result since. It may be quite some time before United add a 14th title to their record. United's support will hope it will not take 26 years as it did between 1967 and 1993.
