FA Premier League 2001–02

The 2001-02 FA Premier League season was the tenth season of the competition. It began with a new sponsor, Barclaycard, and was titled the FA Barclaycard Premiership, replacing the previous sponsor, Carling. The title was contested between four different sides - Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle United.

Arsenal clinched the title on May 8, 2002 after a convincing win against Manchester United at Old Trafford, in the penultimate game of the season. This new attacking Arsenal side had won the FA Cup five days before and made history by accomplishing their third double; second under the reign of Arsène Wenger. He showed his commitment by signing a new four-year deal with the Gunners.

The season started from August 18, 2001 and ended on May 11, 2002.

Race for the Title

At the start of 2002 the title was wide open as teams such as Newcastle Utd and Leeds Utd were flying at the top of the table along with the big boys. Newcastle, after two back to back Christmas away wins 3-1 at Arsenal and 4-3 at Leeds stamped themselves as genuine title challengers and led the league at the turn of the year. Leeds were also top at Christmas before losing that dramatic 4-3 thriller at Elland Road to the Magpies.

Come March time, the Premiership was mainly contested between Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, due to Chelsea, Newcastle and Leeds failure to stay in touch with those specific clubs.

Liverpool appeared to crash out of the title race. Despite being top of the table at the start of December and eleven points clear of Manchester United, they suffered a slump into fifth place and five points behind United.

January saw Liverpool head to Arsenal and Manchester United, all in a fortnight. Danny Murphy scored a late winner to give Liverpool the three points at Old Trafford, while John Arne Riise salvaged a point against Arsenal. Manchester United were top of the table for the first time in the season after Liverpool and Arsenal's stalemate draw.

Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham in March installed Arsenal as favourites for the title. The Gunners win against Bolton Wanderers, in April saw them close the gap to just three points for an Arsenal Championship victory.

All eyes were on the match at Old Trafford between Arsenal and Manchester United. Arsenal needed a draw to guarantee the title for the second time in five seasons, while United needed a win to have any say in the outcome of the league. Sylvain Wiltord was the only scorer in the fiercely battled rival, which had meant that Arsenal secured their third double in ironic fashion. United's loss allowed Liverpool to leapfrog into second place, after their win against Blackburn Rovers, on the same night.

Liverpool confirmed second place and another season of European football on the last day of the season. They trashed and relegated Ipswich Town, 5-0 at home. Arsenal displayed their trophy in style after beating Everton 4-3 at Highbury, while Manchester United could only manage a draw against Charlton.

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Double Trouble: Arsenal

Arsenal yet again entered themselves in the record books by becoming the only side during the whole season not to lose a match away from home and score in all 38 matches. Instrumental to the success was striker, Thierry Henry who netted in 24 goals during the season and defender Sol Campbell who joined the club from arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur on a free deal.

The Gunners suffered only three defeats, - Charlton, Leeds and Newcastle, all coming from home. It also started a thirty match unbeaten run, which eventually ended in October 2002 against Everton. Arsenal also won the FA Cup, after defeating Chelsea by two goals to nil. Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg were both on the scoresheet which ended Arsenal's four year double drought.

Captain, Tony Adams and fellow defender Lee Dixon announced their retirement at the end of the season. Wenger placed Patrick Vieira as captain.

End Position: Champions

Liverpool

Gérard Houllier saw his Liverpool side finish second in the table, one better than he predicted. It was their highest position since 1991, when they finished outside the top two. Champions League football would be back at Anfield for a second season, and there was more of a buzz that the Frenchman would deliver the title back to Anfield. John Arne Riise was the only major signing that Liverpool brought in at the start of the season. It prompted questions from the press and the desire from Houllier to spend big.

The season started fairly well for the side; defeating Manchester United in the Charity Shield and beating West Ham United at the start of the season. However, dramatic news unfolded at Anfield in October.

Gérard Houllier underwent emergency heart surgery after complaining about 'uncomfortable chest pains' in his body, during the match against Leeds United. He was advised to take rest and assistant manager, Phil Thompson had taken in-charge for a temporary basis.

Thompson's first major decision was whether or not to sell striker, Robbie Fowler. Great interest was brewing from rival teams such as Chelsea, Aston Villa and Arsenal, whom Wenger had stated that he admired his 'style of play'. Fowler was eventually sold to Leeds United, on a five year, £11 million deal with the club.

After a whole-list of greetings and get well messages, most notably from David Beckham, David O'Leary, Arsène Wenger and Elton John, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/1660415.stm Houllier back in training] "BBC Sport". URL accessed on 17 November, 2001] Houllier eventually arrived back to Liverpool in March, and had taken in-charge against Roma in the Champions League. The Reds won the match but failed to progress further to the semi-finals - a year to remember for the Liverpool fans.

End Position: Runners-up

Manchester United

Manchester United endured a trophyless season for the first time since 1998. Having spent nearly £45 million on players such as Juan Sebastián Verón and Ruud van Nistelrooy, United failed to retain their trophy and win a fourth title in four consecutive seasons.

Sir Alex Ferguson was on course to retire following the season and had his sights set on the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final in Hampden Park, Scotland. United went out in the semi-finals on the away goal ruling to Bayer Leverkusen, the same team that had defeated Liverpool in the previous round.

The Red Devils ended up finishing third in the table - the lowest in Ferguson's reign since the formation of the Premiership, and were second best to Liverpool and Arsenal, who both beat Manchester United - home and away. Ferguson eventually decided to stay with Manchester United, for a further four years.

End Position: Third

Promotion and Relegation

For the first time in the history of the Premier League, all three promoted teams avoided relegation - Fulham, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers.

Fulham had splashed out £34 million on new players during the close season, and their owner Mohamed Al-Fayed was one of the wealthiest benefactors in English football. He even boasted that they would win the Premiership title in 2001-02, and most pundits tipped Fulham to push for a place in Europe. However, Fulham finished thirteenth, 47 points away from Arsenal.

Bolton Wanderers went top of the Premiership after winning their first three fixtures of the season, and causing an upset by beating Gerard Houllier's Liverpool in the latter stage of the game. Manager Sam Allardyce was boasting that his side were good enough to win their first ever league title. But Bolton's league form slumped after the first two months of the season and they finished 16th place - their survival was confirmed in the penultimate game of the season.

Blackburn Rovers were the most successful of the promoted sides. They beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the League Cup final to lift the trophy for the first time, and then climbed from 18th place in the Premiership in late February to finish in a secure 10th place - higher than any other newly promoted team that season. Blackburn secured a UEFA Cup place for 2002-03.

Leicester City was the first team officially relegated from the Premiership. They finished bottom of table with just five Premiership wins in their last season at 111-year-old Filbert Street before relocation to the new 32,000-seat Walkers Stadium. The club went through the regime of two different managers during the season - Peter Taylor was replaced by David Bassett in early October and six months later Bassett joined the club's board to be replaced by assistant manager Micky Adams.

Just after the start of the 2002-03 season, Leicester's relegation (which cost them extensive television revenue) and the cost of their new stadium had created debts in excess of £30 million, and the club went into administration before being taken over by a new owner. Despite this setback, Leicester had gained promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking, although they slipped back down again after just one season and Adams had since resigned to make way for new manager, Craig Levein.

Next to go down were Derby County, who had been promoted alongside Leicester six years earlier. Their manager Jim Smith resigned in early October to be replaced by assistant manager Colin Todd, who was sacked three months later after Derby were knocked out of the FA Cup by Division Three strugglers Bristol Rovers.

The last team to be relegated were Ipswich Town, who the previous season had qualified for the UEFA Cup and earned manager George Burley the Manager of the Year award. Ipswich made a terrible start to the season, winning just one of their first 18 Premiership games. They then went on a strong run of form, winning seven out of eight games, which looked to have secured their Premiership survival. But they then suffered another setback which George Burley's men were unable to reverse. Their relegation was confirmed on the final day of the season by a 5-0 thrashing at Liverpool.

European qualification

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

¹Blackburn Rovers qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners

²Since Arsenal qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup as FA Cup winners went to Chelsea, who were the FA Cup runners-up

³Despite relegation, Ipswich Town qualified for the 2002-03 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round as Fair Play Award winners

ee also

*2001-02 in English football

References

External links

* [http://www.soccerbot.com/fa/tables/ukprem02.htm 2001/02 FA Premier League Review]