2001–02 FA Premier League

Season summary

At the start of 2002 the title race was wide open, with the likes of Newcastle United and Leeds United contesting at the top of the table along with the usual likes of Arsenal and Manchester United. Newcastle, after back-to-back away wins at Arsenal and Leeds during the Christmas period, confirmed themselves as genuine title challengers and led the league at the turn of the year. Leeds had topped the table at Christmas prior to losing at Elland Road to Newcastle.

Despite being top of the table at the start of December – eleven points clear of Manchester United – Liverpool underwent a severe slump, falling to fifth place, five points behind United. Would-be contenders Chelsea, Newcastle United and Leeds United had by this point disappeared into the chasing pack.

January saw Liverpool travelling to both Highbury and Old Trafford in the space of a fortnight. Liverpool's Danny Murphy scored a late winner to give the Merseyside club all three points against United, and John Arne Riise then salvaged a point for Liverpool against Arsenal, allowing Manchester United to top the table for the first time that season.

In March, Arsenal were installed as strong favourites for the Premiership title after Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal's April triumph against Bolton Wanderers brought them to within three points of a second Premier League title under Arsène Wenger.

Fittingly, the Premiership title would be decided at Old Trafford as Arsenal and Manchester United faced one another in a decisive encounter. Arsenal only required a draw to guarantee their second title in five seasons to go with their FA Cup victory against London rivals Chelsea four days previously; United had to win to take the title race to the last day. In the end, Arsenal emerged victorious as their record signing Sylvain Wiltord scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal was confirmed Premiership champions with a game to spare. Manchester United's disappointment was compounded by Liverpool leapfrogging them into second place by virtue of their 4–3 victory against Blackburn Rovers.

On the final day of the season Liverpool confirmed second place, and in doing so, gaining automatic qualification to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, by thrashing Ipswich Town 5–0 at Anfield. Arsenal rounded off their successful league campaign in style, beating Everton 4–3 at Highbury. Manchester United limped to a poor draw against Charlton Athletic, completing a disappointing campaign for the deposed league champions, the first time since the Premiership had been formed that they had finished out of the top two places and they were required to play in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League the following season.

Newcastle joined Manchester United in those Champions League qualifying rounds by finishing in fourth, whilst a poor run of results at the beginning of the year saw Leeds United's title and Champions League hopes crumble, they were to finish five points adrift of Newcastle in fifth, and would be joined in the UEFA Cup by Chelsea, whose inconsistent form also put pay to their top four aspirations. Leeds controversially sacked their manager David O'Leary after the season concluded.

For the first time in the history of the Premier League, all three promoted teams avoided relegation – Fulham, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn and Bolton spent eleven years in the Premier League, before they were both relegated in 2011–12; coincidentally, in that same season, the three teams promoted from the 2010–11 Football League Championship also stayed up. Fulham spent thirteen years in the top flight before their relegation in 2013–14.

Fulham had splashed out £34 million on new players during the close season, with their owner Mohamed Al-Fayed being 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, managed by former French international Jean Tigana, 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, causing an upset by beating Gérard 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 confirmed in the penultimate game of the season.

Blackburn Rovers were the most successful of the promoted sides. Graeme Souness' men 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, finishing 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 managers during the season – Peter Taylor was replaced by Dave Bassett in early October. Under Bassett, the Foxes briefly climbed out of the relegation zone but a 16-match winless streak including six straight defeats between late January and the beginning of March ultimately sealed their fate. After relegation was confirmed at the beginning of April, Bassett joined the club's board to be replaced by former assistant manager Micky Adams.

Next to go down were Derby County, who had been promoted alongside Leicester six years earlier. 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. In his place came John Gregory, less than a week after he had resigned from Aston Villa but despite his best efforts, he was unable to prevent their relegation, which was confirmed with two games to spare following a 2–0 loss away at Liverpool.

The last team to be relegated were Ipswich Town, who had qualified for the UEFA Cup and earned manager George Burley the Manager of the Year award the previous season after finishing fifth. 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 slump which they were unable to halt. Coincidentally, like Derby, they too were sent down by losing away at Liverpool, who thrashed them 5–0 on the final day. Bizarrely, despite their relegation, Ipswich's disciplinary record this season was the best of the teams that hadn't qualified for European competition via league position, thus giving them a second successive UEFA Cup campaign for the following season after England received one of the three additional slots awarded through the UEFA Fair Play ranking.

Teams

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were Fulham, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers, returning after a top flight absence of thirty-three, two and three years respectively. This was also Fulham's first season in the Premier League. They replaced Manchester City, Coventry City, and Bradford City, who were relegated to the First Division after their top flight presences of one, thirty-four and two years respectively.

Personnel and kits

1 The Dreamcast logo appeared on Arsenal's home and third shirts while the Sega logo appeared on their away shirt

Season statistics

Scoring

First goal of the season: Kevin Nolan for Bolton Wanderers against Leicester City (18 August 2001)

Last goal of the season: Paul Telfer for Southampton against Newcastle United (11 May 2002)

Note: P Player scored a perfect hat-trick; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Awards

Attendances

Source: