2003–04 FA Premier League

FA Premier League
Season 2003–04
Champions Arsenal
3rd Premier League title
13th English title
Relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers
Leicester City
Leeds United
Champions League Arsenal
Chelsea
Manchester United
Liverpool
UEFA Cup Newcastle United
Middlesbrough
Matches played 380
Goals scored 1,012 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer Thierry Henry (30 goals)
Biggest home win Portsmouth 6–1 Leeds United
(8 November 2003)
Chelsea 5–0 Newcastle United
(9 November 2003)
Arsenal 5–0 Leeds United
(16 April 2004)
Biggest away win Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–5 Chelsea
(20 September 2003)
Leicester City 0–5 Aston Villa
(31 January 2004)
Highest scoring Manchester City 6–2 Bolton Wanderers
(18 October 2003)
Tottenham 4–4 Leicester City
(22 February 2004)
Middlesbrough 5–3 Birmingham City
(20 March 2004)
Longest winning run 9 games[1]
Arsenal
Longest unbeaten run 38 games, the entire season[1]
Arsenal
Longest winless run 14 games[1]
Manchester City
Longest losing run 6 games[1]
Leeds United
Highest attendance 67,758
Manchester United v Southampton
(31 January 2004)
Lowest attendance 13,981
Fulham v Blackburn Rovers
(12 April 2004)
Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira lifting the trophy at Highbury

The 2003–04 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the Premier League. Arsenal were the champions and Chelsea, who had spent heavily throughout the season, were the runners up. Arsenal ended the season without a single defeat – the first team ever to do so in a 38-game league season and the second team overall (the first was Preston North End in 1889, 115 years earlier, during a 22-game league season).

Having qualified for the Champions' League the previous season, Chelsea were bolstered by a £100 million outlay on world-class players, a spree funded by the extensive financial resources of their new owner Roman Abramovich. Manchester United's attack was as strong as ever thanks to free-scoring Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the midfield was weakened following the £25 million pre-season sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid, and the centre of defence suffered a more severe setback after Rio Ferdinand was ruled out for the final four months of the season after being found guilty of the "failure or refusal to take a drugs test". The case of Rio Ferdinand started a debate about punishments relating to drug testing in football, with there being differing views on whether the punishment was too harsh or too lenient. Ferdinand's club sought to make direct comparisons with an earlier case of Manchester City reserve player who had in fact committed a lesser drug testing offence and as a result escaped with only a fine.[2] City themselves had just moved from Maine Road to the City of Manchester Stadium.[3]

Arsenal, meanwhile, had only signed German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 2003 close season, but French striker Thierry Henry was instrumental in Arsenal's success. Away from the Premier League, Arsène Wenger's team suffered disappointment in the cup competitions. They were knocked-out by League Cup eventual winners Middlesbrough in the semi-finals. They lost their defence of the FA Cup (which they held for two seasons in a row) after losing to eventual winners Manchester United in the semi-final. Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Chelsea (3–2 on aggregate). These blows in the FA Cup and Champions League came within a few days of each other, and it was feared that Arsenal might squander their lead of the Premier League for the second successive season, but Arsenal thumped Liverpool only days later. Arsenal's Invincibles finished the season with 26 wins, 12 draws, 0 defeats and 90 points.

The three relegation spots were occupied by three teams bracketed together on 33 points. Wolves and Leicester City followed the trend of many other newly promoted Premier League clubs and were relegated just one season after reaching the top division. The other relegation place went to Leeds United, whose playing fortunes had dipped in the past two seasons after David O'Leary was sacked as manager and club debts had risen so high that many star players had to be sold. As a result, Leeds were finally relegated from the Premier League after 14 years of top division football – just three seasons after they had reached the Champions League semifinals.

In his third season as Middlesbrough manager, Steve McClaren had guided the Teessiders to their first ever major trophy – sealed with a 2–1 win over Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup final. McClaren was also the first English manager to win a major trophy since Brian Little guided Aston Villa to League Cup success in 1996. He was also the first manager to take Middlesbrough into European competition – they would be competing in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup.

2003–04 saw a number of managerial changes in the Premier League. Glenn Hoddle was sacked as manager of Spurs in September, with Director of Football David Pleat taking over as temporary manager until the end of the season. He was then replaced by French national coach Jacques Santini, who was in the charge for five months before being replaced by assistant first team coach Martin Jol. At the end of 2003–04, Frank Arnesen was appointed Director of Football for Spurs.

Leeds United sacked Peter Reid in November and installed first team coach Eddie Gray as interim manager until the end of the season, as they could not afford to buy another team's manager out of his contract. Gray was unable to save Leeds from relegation and was sacked by the club's new owners, who installed Gray's assistant Kevin Blackwell as their new manager.

Gordon Strachan quit as Southampton manager in March and was replaced by Plymouth Argyle's Paul Sturrock. Just after the start of 2004–05, Sturrock handed in his resignation and was replaced by Steve Wigley who spent three months at the helm before being replaced by Harry Redknapp.

At the end of 2003–04, Gérard Houllier was sacked as manager of Liverpool despite having won four cup competitions (including three in one season) during his six-year spell as manager. Liverpool then turned to ex-Valencia coach Rafael Benítez as the man they hoped could win the league title which has eluded Anfield since 1990.

Despite guiding Chelsea to second position in the Premier League (their highest league finish for half a century) and to their first ever Champions League or European Cup semifinal, Claudio Ranieri was sacked after four years in charge at Stamford Bridge. Roman Abramovich then appointed José Mourinho as Chelsea's new manager. Mourinho, who won the 2004 Champions League with Porto of Portugal, was given a three-year contract.

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Arsenal France Arsène Wenger France Patrick Vieira Nike O2
Aston Villa Republic of Ireland David O'Leary Sweden Olof Mellberg Diadora Rover
Birmingham City England Steve Bruce Republic of Ireland Kenny Cunningham Le Coq Sportif Flybe.com
Blackburn Rovers Scotland Graeme Souness England Garry Flitcroft Kappa HSA
Bolton Wanderers England Sam Allardyce Nigeria Jay-Jay Okocha Reebok Reebok
Charlton Athletic England Alan Curbishley Republic of Ireland Matt Holland Joma All:Sports
Chelsea Italy Claudio Ranieri France Marcel Desailly Umbro Fly Emirates
Everton Scotland David Moyes Scotland David Weir Puma Kejian
Fulham Wales Chris Coleman England Lee Clark Puma dabs.com
Leeds United Scotland Eddie Gray Scotland Dominic Matteo Nike Whyte and Mackay
Leicester City England Micky Adams Scotland Matt Elliott Le Coq Sportif Alliance & Leicester
Liverpool France Gérard Houllier England Steven Gerrard Reebok Carlsberg
Manchester City England Kevin Keegan France Sylvain Distin Reebok First Advice
Manchester United Scotland Sir Alex Ferguson Republic of Ireland Roy Keane Nike Vodafone
Middlesbrough England Steve McClaren England Gareth Southgate Erreà Dial-a-Phone
Newcastle United England Sir Bobby Robson England Alan Shearer Adidas Northern Rock
Portsmouth England Harry Redknapp England Teddy Sheringham Pompey Sport ty
Southampton Scotland Paul Sturrock Norway Claus Lundekvam Saints Friends Provident
Tottenham Hotspur England David Pleat England Jamie Redknapp Kappa Thomson Holidays
Wolverhampton Wanderers England Dave Jones England Paul Ince Admiral Doritos

League table

The Premier League commissioned a unique gold trophy to commemorate Arsenal's achievement of winning the league title without defeat.
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Arsenal (C) 38 26 12 0 73 26 +47 90 2004–05 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2 Chelsea 38 24 7 7 67 30 +37 79
3 Manchester United 38 23 6 9 64 35 +29 75 2004–05 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
4 Liverpool 38 16 12 10 55 37 +18 60
5 Newcastle United 38 13 17 8 52 40 +12 56 2004–05 UEFA Cup First round
6 Aston Villa 38 15 11 12 48 44 +4 56
7 Charlton Athletic 38 14 11 13 51 51 0 53
8 Bolton Wanderers 38 14 11 13 48 56 −8 53
9 Fulham 38 14 10 14 52 46 +6 52
10 Birmingham City 38 12 14 12 43 48 −5 50
11 Middlesbrough 38 13 9 16 44 52 −8 48 2004–05 UEFA Cup First round[lower-alpha 2]
12 Southampton 38 12 11 15 44 45 −1 47
13 Portsmouth 38 12 9 17 47 54 −7 45
14 Tottenham Hotspur 38 13 6 19 47 57 −10 45
15 Blackburn Rovers 38 12 8 18 51 59 −8 44
16 Manchester City 38 9 14 15 55 54 +1 41
17 Everton 38 9 12 17 45 57 −12 39
18 Leicester City (R) 38 6 15 17 48 65 −17 33 Relegation to 2004–05 Football League Championship
19 Leeds United (R) 38 8 9 21 40 79 −39 33
20 Wolverhampton Wanderers (R) 38 7 12 19 38 77 −39 33
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. ↑ Since Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup as FA Cup winners went to First Division club Millwall, who were the FA Cup runners-up.
  2. ↑ Middlesbrough qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.

Season statistics

Total goals: 1,012
Average goals per game: 2.66

Results

Home \ Away[1] ARS AST BIRBLBBOLCHACHEEVEFULLEELEILIVMCIMUNMIDNEWPORSOUTOTWOL
Arsenal 2–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 0–0 5–0 2–1 4–2 2–1 1–1 4–1 3–2 1–1 2–0 2–1 3–0
Aston Villa 0–2 2–2 0–2 1–1 2–1 3–2 0–0 3–0 2–0 3–1 0–0 1–1 0–2 0–2 0–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 3–2
Birmingham 0–3 0–0 0–4 2–0 1–2 0–0 3–0 2–2 4–1 0–1 0–3 2–1 1–2 3–1 1–1 2–0 2–1 1–0 2–2
Blackburn Rovers 0–2 0–2 1–1 3–4 0–1 2–3 2–1 0–2 1–2 1–0 1–3 2–3 1–0 2–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 1–0 5–1
Bolton Wanderers 1–1 2–2 0–1 2–2 0–0 0–2 2–0 0–2 4–1 2–2 2–2 1–3 1–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–0 1–1
Charlton Athletic 1–1 1–2 1–1 3–2 1–2 4–2 2–2 3–1 0–1 2–2 3–2 0–3 0–2 1–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–4 2–0
Chelsea 1–2 1–0 0–0 2–2 1–2 1–0 0–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 0–0 5–0 3–0 4–0 4–2 5–2
Everton 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–1 3–1 4–0 3–2 0–3 0–0 3–4 1–1 2–2 1–0 0–0 3–1 2–0
Fulham 0–1 1–2 0–0 3–4 2–1 2–0 0–1 2–1 2–0 2–0 1–2 2–2 1–1 3–2 2–3 2–0 2–0 2–1 0–0
Leeds United 1–4 0–0 0–2 2–1 0–2 3–3 1–1 1–1 3–2 3–2 2–2 2–1 0–1 0–3 2–2 1–2 0–0 0–1 4–1
Leicester City 1–1 0–5 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–4 1–1 0–2 4–0 0–0 1–1 1–4 0–0 1–1 3–1 2–2 1–2 0–0
Liverpool 1–2 1–0 3–1 4–0 3–1 0–1 1–2 0–0 0–0 3–1 2–1 2–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 3–0 1–2 0–0 1–0
Manchester City 1–2 4–1 0–0 1–1 6–2 1–1 0–1 5–1 0–0 1–1 0–3 2–2 4–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–3 0–0 3–3
Manchester United 0–0 4–0 3–0 2–1 4–0 2–0 1–1 3–2 1–3 1–1 1–0 0–1 3–1 2–3 0–0 3–0 3–2 3–0 1–0
Middlesbrough 0–4 1–2 5–3 0–1 2–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 2–1 2–3 3–3 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 3–1 1–0 2–0
Newcastle United 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 3–1 2–1 4–2 3–1 1–0 3–1 1–1 3–0 1–2 2–1 3–0 1–0 4–0 1–1
Portsmouth 1–1 2–1 3–1 1–2 4–0 1–2 0–2 1–2 1–1 6–1 0–2 1–0 4–2 1–0 5–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 0–0
Southampton 0–1 1–1 0–0 2–0 1–2 3–2 0–1 3–3 0–0 2–1 0–0 2–0 0–2 1–0 0–1 3–3 3–0 1–0 2–0
Tottenham Hotspur 2–2 2–1 4–1 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–1 3–0 0–3 2–1 4–4 2–1 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–0 4–3 1–3 5–2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–3 0–4 1–1 2–2 1–2 0–4 0–5 2–1 2–1 3–1 4–3 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 0–0 1–4 0–2

Source:
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Overall

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Thierry Henry Arsenal 30
2 Alan Shearer Newcastle United 22
3 Louis Saha Manchester United/Fulham 20
Ruud van Nistelrooy Manchester United 20
5 Mikael Forssell Birmingham City 17
6 Nicolas Anelka Manchester City 16
Juan Pablo Ángel Aston Villa 16
Michael Owen Liverpool 16
Yakubu Portsmouth 16
10 James Beattie Southampton 14
Robbie Keane Tottenham Hotspur 14
Robert Pirès Arsenal 14

Awards

Monthly awards

MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the Month
August Arsène Wenger (Arsenal) Teddy Sheringham (Portsmouth)
September Claudio Ranieri (Chelsea) Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
October Sir Bobby Robson (Newcastle United) Alan Shearer (Newcastle United)
November Sam Allardyce (Bolton Wanderers) Jay-Jay Okocha (Bolton Wanderers)
December Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) Paul Scholes (Manchester United)
January Sam Allardyce (Bolton Wanderers) Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
February Arsène Wenger (Arsenal) Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal) & Edu (Arsenal)
March Claudio Ranieri (Chelsea) Mikael Forssell (Birmingham City)
April Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth) Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

Annual awards

LMA Manager of the Year

The LMA Manager of the Year award was won by Arsène Wenger, he made history in doing so being the first manager to win the award twice.[4]

PFA Players' Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2004 was won by Thierry Henry of Arsenal for the second successive year.[5]

The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award was as follows:

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year award was won by Scott Parker of Chelsea F.C..

The shortlist for the award was as follows:[6]

PFA Team of the Year

Goalkeeper: Tim Howard (Manchester United)
Defence: Lauren, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell (all Arsenal), John Terry (Chelsea)
Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Patrick Vieira, Robert Pirès (both Arsenal), Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Attack: Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United)

PFA Fans' Player of the Year

Thierry Henry of Arsenal was named the PFA Fans' Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. Henry was the first player to win this award twice.[7][8]

FWA Footballer of the Year

The FWA Footballer of the Year award for 2004 was won by Thierry Henry. The Arsenal forward picked up a remarkable 87% of the votes.[9]

Premier League Fair Play Award

The Premier League Fair Play Award merit is given to the team who has been the most sporting and best behaved team. Champions Arsenal won this.[10][11]

Behaviour of the Public League

Given to the best-behaved fans, Arsenal won this, thus achieving a fair play double.[10]

Premier League Manager of the Year

Arsène Wenger won the Premier League Manager of the Year award. His team won 26 games, losing 0 and drawing 12 scoring 73 goals, conceding 26.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "English Premier League 2003–04". statto.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Harris, Nick (18 December 2003). "Motive is always considered in deciding guilt". The Independent. London. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Club History". Manchester City Football Club.
  4. ↑ "BreakingNews.ie – 2004/05/17: Wenger gets Managers' Association award". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  5. ↑ "Henry retains PFA crown". BBC News. 25 April 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  6. ↑ "Henry leads PFA nominations | BreakingNews.ie". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  7. ↑ "Thierry is the tops again – and it's a big 'hats off' to divisional winners Darren Huckerby, Neil Moss and Lee Harper! | The PFA Awards | Give Me Football". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  8. ↑ "Pfa Fans' Player of the Year". Sky Sports.
  9. ↑ "Henry named FWA player of year | Article from Xinhua News Agency | HighBeam Research". Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  10. 1 2 "TheFA.com - Fair Play to Gunners". 27 October 2004. Archived from the original on 27 October 2004.
  11. ↑ http://www.premierleague.com/staticFiles/0/66/0,,12306~91648,00.pdf
  12. ↑ "BreakingNews.ie – 2004/05/17: Wenger gets Managers' Association award". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
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