2003–04 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 | 1012 (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 Arsenal |
| Longest unbeaten run | 38 games Arsenal |
| Longest winless run | 14 games Manchester City |
| Longest losing run | 6 games Leeds United |
| Highest attendance | 67,758 Manchester United v Southampton |
| Lowest attendance | 13,981 Fulham v Blackburn Rovers |
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← 2002–03
2004–05 →
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| PFA Team of the Year |
The 2003–04 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the Premier League. In the end, Arsenal went through 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) and were crowned champions once more, at the expense of Chelsea, who had spent heavily throughout the 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 pre-season £25 million 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.City themselves had just moved from Maine Road to the City of Manchester Stadium.
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 Premiership, Arsène Wenger's team suffered disappointment in the cup competitions. 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 two blows came with a few days of each other and it was feared that Arsenal might squander their lead of the Premiership 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.
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