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Encore: English Premier League 2004-05
Goal.com brings another series of articles your way, and remembers and reviews the seasons gone by in the recent history of the English Premier League. We first look at the season where Chelsea ended their 50-year wait for the League title...
11-Jul-2008 12:09:27 AM
Title Race…
Arsenal were dominating football in England over the last three years, and had two league titles, two FA Cups, and an unprecedented unbeaten league campaign to show for it. They started the season the way they had left off last term, and were scoring goals for fun with Reyes, Henry, and a certain Cesc Fabregas in top form. They went on to beat Nottingham Forest’s record for the longest unbeaten streak in league football and were on 49 matches unbeaten when they visited Old Trafford in October.
By the end of the night, Arsenal had their unbeaten run stopped abruptly at 49, Man Utd had regained some momentum in the league, and Sir Alex Ferguson had a slice of pizza smeared all over his face! Post this match, the Gunners’ form dipped dramatically, which allowed Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea to slip ahead in the race for top honours. Their form improved towards the end of the season, and even though they were by far the league’s top scorers with 87 goals, they never matched the consistency showed by Chelsea, and finished 12 points behind their London rivals.
Chelsea, and especially their new Coach Mourinho, had been the media’s favourite whipping boys during pre-season. The extravagant amount of spending on players and then Mourinho claiming to be the “Special One” at his very first press conference came in for a lot of widespread criticism from one and all, but they proved their worth emphatically on the pitch.
Jose brought in a few Porto players along with him to Chelsea, and followed a very similar pattern of football that worked so well at Porto at his new club. Chelsea remained almost impossible to beat throughout the season, and because of their watertight defence, were almost sure-shot winners even if they scored only one goal every game. Terry, Carvalho, Makelele, Cech and Lampard had outstanding seasons, and they all helped their club win their first league title in 50 years. They did in style too, by amassing a record 95 points (29 wins, 8 draws, 1 defeat), and by conceding a measly 15 goals, which was another record in itself. A Carling Cup triumph was another high point for Chelsea during a domestic season they can safely call ‘theirs’.
Manchester United chalked up 77 points in all during the league season, which would have been enough to lift the trophy in some years, but this time it was only enough to finish 3rd behind Chelsea and Arsenal. They started their season slowly as compared to the two London heavyweights, but their form gradually improved after the win against Arsenal at Old Trafford. They even moved into second place after completing the ‘double against the Gunners at Highbury, but losses against the likes of Norwich City saw them lose crucial points, and finish 18 points off the top.
Race for Europe…
Liverpool had a frustrating league campaign, and their new manager Rafa Benitez seemed unable to find the correct combination of players even till the end of the season. And with the focus mainly being on cup competitions towards the second half of the season, their league form suffered even more, which resulted in them finishing fifth, behind local rivals, Everton. The Toffees eventually finished on 61 points, three more than Liverpool, and clinched the final Champions League spot. It was the sweet redemption for them and their Manager David Moyes, as the club was tipped for relegation after the transfer of Wayne Rooney to Man Utd at the beginning of the season.
As circumstances would have it, sixth and seventh placed Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough were the two teams who qualified for the Uefa Cup for next season. It was a historic moment for Sam Allardyce’s Wanderers side, who had qualified for a European tournament for the first time in their history. Middlesbrough on the other hand, qualified for the Uefa Cup for the second year running, and made it through dramatically thanks to Robbie Fowler’s penalty miss on the final day of the season.
Relegation Dogfight…
The season was a unique one in terms of the relegation battle. For the first time, there wasn’t even one team relegated as the teams stepped on to the pitch on the final day of the season, which prompted Sky Sports to promote the final round of matches as “Survival Sunday”.
For each of the last three weekends, the team that was bottom before the round of matches finished outside the drop zone after it, and the trend didn’t change on the last day as well. Before their final matches, West Brom were bottom, and Crystal Palace and Southampton were both locked one point ahead of them. Norwich was one point further ahead, in the safe zone.
West Brom did their bit and won at home against Portsmouth. Norwich and Southampton on the other hand, lost their games against Fulham and Man Utd. Crystal Palace were leading 2-1 after 71 minutes against rivals Charlton, but a late equalizer meant that the game ended in a draw, and the team bottom before the matches started, West Brom, managed to stay up! Fans invaded the pitch as a mass celebration took place at The Hawthorns, and West Brom became the first team in Premiership history to avoid relegation after being bottom at Christmas.
Top Guns…
Arsenal’s Gallic legend Thierry Henry won the Golden Boot for the second year running with 25 goals, followed by Crystal Palace’s Andy Johnson with 21. Robert Pires had another fine season and finished with 14 goals, and surprisingly the Champions’ top scorer (Frank Lampard) scored only 13 goals in the league. The assists chart was topped by Lampard, who had a fine season, with 16 assists. Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp followed closely with 14 and 12 assists respectively.
Chelsea players, unsurprisingly, bagged quite a few individual awards at the end of the season. The Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award went to their top-scorer and talisman Frank Lampard. The PFA Player of the Year award went to club captain John Terry, who led a Chelsea defence that conceded just 15 goals in 38 league games. There was some respite for Manchester United, as the Young Player of the Year award went to 19-year-old Wayne Rooney, who had an impressive first season with them.
Atishay Agarwal
Arsenal were dominating football in England over the last three years, and had two league titles, two FA Cups, and an unprecedented unbeaten league campaign to show for it. They started the season the way they had left off last term, and were scoring goals for fun with Reyes, Henry, and a certain Cesc Fabregas in top form. They went on to beat Nottingham Forest’s record for the longest unbeaten streak in league football and were on 49 matches unbeaten when they visited Old Trafford in October.
By the end of the night, Arsenal had their unbeaten run stopped abruptly at 49, Man Utd had regained some momentum in the league, and Sir Alex Ferguson had a slice of pizza smeared all over his face! Post this match, the Gunners’ form dipped dramatically, which allowed Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea to slip ahead in the race for top honours. Their form improved towards the end of the season, and even though they were by far the league’s top scorers with 87 goals, they never matched the consistency showed by Chelsea, and finished 12 points behind their London rivals.
Chelsea, and especially their new Coach Mourinho, had been the media’s favourite whipping boys during pre-season. The extravagant amount of spending on players and then Mourinho claiming to be the “Special One” at his very first press conference came in for a lot of widespread criticism from one and all, but they proved their worth emphatically on the pitch.
Jose brought in a few Porto players along with him to Chelsea, and followed a very similar pattern of football that worked so well at Porto at his new club. Chelsea remained almost impossible to beat throughout the season, and because of their watertight defence, were almost sure-shot winners even if they scored only one goal every game. Terry, Carvalho, Makelele, Cech and Lampard had outstanding seasons, and they all helped their club win their first league title in 50 years. They did in style too, by amassing a record 95 points (29 wins, 8 draws, 1 defeat), and by conceding a measly 15 goals, which was another record in itself. A Carling Cup triumph was another high point for Chelsea during a domestic season they can safely call ‘theirs’.
Manchester United chalked up 77 points in all during the league season, which would have been enough to lift the trophy in some years, but this time it was only enough to finish 3rd behind Chelsea and Arsenal. They started their season slowly as compared to the two London heavyweights, but their form gradually improved after the win against Arsenal at Old Trafford. They even moved into second place after completing the ‘double against the Gunners at Highbury, but losses against the likes of Norwich City saw them lose crucial points, and finish 18 points off the top.
Race for Europe…
Liverpool had a frustrating league campaign, and their new manager Rafa Benitez seemed unable to find the correct combination of players even till the end of the season. And with the focus mainly being on cup competitions towards the second half of the season, their league form suffered even more, which resulted in them finishing fifth, behind local rivals, Everton. The Toffees eventually finished on 61 points, three more than Liverpool, and clinched the final Champions League spot. It was the sweet redemption for them and their Manager David Moyes, as the club was tipped for relegation after the transfer of Wayne Rooney to Man Utd at the beginning of the season.
As circumstances would have it, sixth and seventh placed Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough were the two teams who qualified for the Uefa Cup for next season. It was a historic moment for Sam Allardyce’s Wanderers side, who had qualified for a European tournament for the first time in their history. Middlesbrough on the other hand, qualified for the Uefa Cup for the second year running, and made it through dramatically thanks to Robbie Fowler’s penalty miss on the final day of the season.
Relegation Dogfight…
The season was a unique one in terms of the relegation battle. For the first time, there wasn’t even one team relegated as the teams stepped on to the pitch on the final day of the season, which prompted Sky Sports to promote the final round of matches as “Survival Sunday”.
For each of the last three weekends, the team that was bottom before the round of matches finished outside the drop zone after it, and the trend didn’t change on the last day as well. Before their final matches, West Brom were bottom, and Crystal Palace and Southampton were both locked one point ahead of them. Norwich was one point further ahead, in the safe zone.
West Brom did their bit and won at home against Portsmouth. Norwich and Southampton on the other hand, lost their games against Fulham and Man Utd. Crystal Palace were leading 2-1 after 71 minutes against rivals Charlton, but a late equalizer meant that the game ended in a draw, and the team bottom before the matches started, West Brom, managed to stay up! Fans invaded the pitch as a mass celebration took place at The Hawthorns, and West Brom became the first team in Premiership history to avoid relegation after being bottom at Christmas.
Top Guns…
Arsenal’s Gallic legend Thierry Henry won the Golden Boot for the second year running with 25 goals, followed by Crystal Palace’s Andy Johnson with 21. Robert Pires had another fine season and finished with 14 goals, and surprisingly the Champions’ top scorer (Frank Lampard) scored only 13 goals in the league. The assists chart was topped by Lampard, who had a fine season, with 16 assists. Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp followed closely with 14 and 12 assists respectively.
Chelsea players, unsurprisingly, bagged quite a few individual awards at the end of the season. The Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award went to their top-scorer and talisman Frank Lampard. The PFA Player of the Year award went to club captain John Terry, who led a Chelsea defence that conceded just 15 goals in 38 league games. There was some respite for Manchester United, as the Young Player of the Year award went to 19-year-old Wayne Rooney, who had an impressive first season with them.
Atishay Agarwal
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