2006–07 FA Premier League

The 2006–07 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclays Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the FA Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2006 and concluded on 13 May 2007. On 12 February 2007, the FA Premier League renamed itself simply the Premier League, complete with new logo, sleeve patches and typeface. The sponsored name remains the Barclays Premier League.

FA Premier League
Season2006–07
Dates19 August 2006 – 13 May 2007
ChampionsManchester United
Relegated
Champions League
UEFA Cup
Intertoto CupBlackburn Rovers
Matches played380
Goals scored931 (2.45 per match)
Top goalscorerDidier Drogba (20 goals)
Biggest home winReading 6–0 West Ham United
(1 January 2007)
Biggest away win
Highest scoringArsenal 6–2 Blackburn Rovers
(23 December 2006)
Longest winning run9 games[1]
Chelsea
Longest unbeaten run14 games[1]
Chelsea
Longest winless run11 games[1]
Longest losing run8 games[1]
Wigan Athletic
Highest attendance76,098
Manchester United vs. Blackburn Rovers
(31 March 2007)
Lowest attendance13,760
Watford vs. Blackburn Rovers (23 January 2007)
Average attendance34,402

Manchester United ended the season as Premiership champions for the ninth time in fifteen years, after Chelsea failed to win against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 6 May 2007. This left them seven points behind United, with two games to go, confirming the Manchester club as champions once more.

The three relegation spots were occupied by Watford and Sheffield United who each lasted one season in the league, along with Charlton Athletic who went down after seven seasons.

Teams

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Championship. The promoted teams were Reading (playing in the top flight for the first time ever), Sheffield United (playing top flight football for the first time in twelve years) and Watford (returning after a six-year absence). They replaced Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland, ending their top flight spells of four, two and one year respectively.

Stadiums and locations
Locations of the 2006–07 Premier League teams
Greater London Premier League football clubs
Greater Manchester Premier League football clubs
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Arsenal London (Holloway) Emirates Stadium[lower-alpha 1] 60,600
Aston Villa Birmingham Villa Park 42,553
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park 31,367
Bolton Wanderers Bolton Reebok Stadium 28,723
Charlton Athletic London (Charlton) The Valley 27,111
Chelsea London (Fulham) Stamford Bridge 42,360
Everton Liverpool (Walton) Goodison Park 40,569
Fulham London (Fulham) Craven Cottage 24,600
Liverpool Liverpool (Anfield) Anfield 48,677
Manchester City Manchester (Bradford) City of Manchester Stadium 48,000
Manchester United Manchester (Old Trafford) Old Trafford 76,212[lower-alpha 2]
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium 35,049
Newcastle United Newcastle upon Tyne St James' Park 52,387
Portsmouth Portsmouth Fratton Park 20,220
Reading Reading Madejski Stadium[lower-alpha 3] 24,250
Sheffield United Sheffield Bramall Lane 32,609
Tottenham Hotspur London (Tottenham) White Hart Lane 36,240
Watford Watford Vicarage Road 19,920
West Ham United London (Upton Park) Boleyn Ground 35,146
Wigan Athletic Wigan JJB Stadium 25,138
  1. Arsenal moved to the larger 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium after 93 years at Arsenal Stadium.
  2. Old Trafford is now a fully completed 76,000-seater stadium, making it the largest club stadium in the UK.
  3. The Madejski Stadium was a new Premier League ground for this season, Reading's first in the competition.

Personnel and kits

(as of 13 May 2007)

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Arsenal Arsène Wenger Thierry Henry Nike Fly Emirates
Aston Villa Martin O'Neill Gareth Barry Hummel 32red.com
Blackburn Rovers Mark Hughes Ryan Nelsen Lonsdale bet24.com
Bolton Wanderers Sammy Lee Kevin Nolan Reebok Reebok
Charlton Athletic Alan Pardew Luke Young Joma Llanera
Chelsea José Mourinho John Terry Adidas Samsung Mobile
Everton David Moyes Phil Neville Umbro Chang
Fulham Lawrie Sanchez Brian McBride Airness Pipex
Liverpool Rafael Benítez Steven Gerrard Adidas Carlsberg
Manchester City Stuart Pearce Richard Dunne Reebok Thomas Cook
Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson Gary Neville Nike AIG
Middlesbrough Gareth Southgate George Boateng Erreà 888.com
Newcastle United Nigel Pearson (caretaker) Scott Parker Adidas Northern Rock
Portsmouth Harry Redknapp Dejan Stefanović Jako Oki
Reading Steve Coppell Graeme Murty Puma Kyocera
Sheffield United Neil Warnock Chris Morgan Le Coq Sportif Capital One
Tottenham Hotspur Martin Jol Ledley King Puma Mansion.com
Watford Aidy Boothroyd Gavin Mahon Diadora loans.co.uk
West Ham United Alan Curbishley Nigel Reo-Coker Reebok Jobserve
Wigan Athletic Paul Jewell Arjan De Zeeuw JJB JJB

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Charlton Athletic Alan Curbishley End of contract 24 April 2006[2] Pre-season Iain Dowie 27 May 2006
Middlesbrough Steve McClaren Signed by England 4 May 2006[3] Gareth Southgate 7 June 2006[4]
Aston Villa David O'Leary Sacked 19 July 2006 Martin O'Neill 4 August 2006[5]
Charlton Athletic Iain Dowie 13 November 2006[6] 20th Les Reed 13 November 2006
West Ham United Alan Pardew 11 December 2006[7] 18th Alan Curbishley 13 December 2006[8]
Charlton Athletic Les Reed 20 December 2006 19th Alan Pardew 24 December 2006[9]
Fulham Chris Coleman 10 April 2007[10] 15th Lawrie Sanchez 10 April 2007
Bolton Wanderers Sam Allardyce Resigned 29 April 2007[11] 5th Sammy Lee 30 April 2007[12]
Newcastle United Glenn Roeder 6 May 2007[13] 13th Nigel Pearson (caretaker) 6 May 2007

League table
See also: Premier League § Competition
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Manchester United (C) 38 28 5 5 83 27 +56 89 Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2 Chelsea 38 24 11 3 64 24 +40 83
3 Liverpool 38 20 8 10 57 27 +30 68 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4 Arsenal 38 19 11 8 63 35 +28 68
5 Tottenham Hotspur 38 17 9 12 57 54 +3 60 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[lower-alpha 1]
6 Everton 38 15 13 10 52 36 +16 58
7 Bolton Wanderers 38 16 8 14 47 52 −5 56
8 Reading 38 16 7 15 52 47 +5 55
9 Portsmouth 38 14 12 12 45 42 +3 54
10 Blackburn Rovers 38 15 7 16 52 54 −2 52 Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round[lower-alpha 2]
11 Aston Villa 38 11 17 10 43 41 +2 50
12 Middlesbrough 38 12 10 16 44 49 −5 46
13 Newcastle United 38 11 10 17 38 47 −9 43
14 Manchester City 38 11 9 18 29 44 −15 42
15 West Ham United 38 12 5 21 35 59 −24 41
16 Fulham 38 8 15 15 38 60 −22 39
17 Wigan Athletic 38 10 8 20 37 59 −22 38
18 Sheffield United (R) 38 10 8 20 32 55 −23 38 Relegation to the Football League Championship
19 Charlton Athletic (R) 38 8 10 20 34 60 −26 34
20 Watford (R) 38 5 13 20 29 59 −30 28
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Since both finalists of the FA Cup (Manchester United and Chelsea) and the League Cup winners (Chelsea) were qualified for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup spots were given to the 6th- and 7th-placed Premier League teams.
  2. The highest-placed team who applied for the Intertoto Cup and not in an automatic UEFA Cup spot was awarded with a place in that competition. Blackburn Rovers occupied the Intertoto place, because Portsmouth and Reading did not apply.[14] A further place in the UEFA Cup was up for grabs via the Premiership Fair Play League. The winner is placed into a draw with the winners of Fair Play leagues in other countries. The representatives from the two countries that come out of the hat first are given a place in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round. Since the winners of the Premiership Fair Play League, Tottenham Hotspur, had already qualified for the UEFA Cup by virtue of their league position, their place in the Fair Play draw was given to Aston Villa. However, the places in the UEFA Cup were awarded to the representatives from Finland and Norway.

Results
Home \ Away ARS AVL BLB BOL CHA CHE EVE FUL LIV MCI MUN MID NEW POR REA SHU TOT WAT WHU WIG
Arsenal 1–1 6–2 2–1 4–0 1–1 1–1 3–1 3–0 3–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–2 2–1 3–0 3–0 3–0 0–1 2–1
Aston Villa 0–1 2–0 0–1 2–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–3 0–3 1–1 2–0 0–0 2–1 3–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 1–1
Blackburn Rovers 0–2 1–2 0–1 4–1 0–2 1–1 2–0 1–0 4–2 0–1 2–1 1–3 3–0 3–3 2–1 1–1 3–1 1–2 2–1
Bolton Wanderers 3–1 2–2 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 0–0 0–4 0–0 2–1 3–2 1–3 1–0 2–0 1–0 4–0 0–1
Charlton Athletic 1–2 2–1 1–0 2–0 0–1 1–1 2–2 0–3 1–0 0–3 1–3 2–0 0–1 0–0 1–1 0–2 0–0 4–0 1–0
Chelsea 1–1 1–1 3–0 2–2 2–1 1–1 2–2 1–0 3–0 0–0 3–0 1–0 2–1 2–2 3–0 1–0 4–0 1–0 4–0
Everton 1–0 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–3 4–1 3–0 1–1 2–4 0–0 3–0 3–0 1–1 2–0 1–2 2–1 2–0 2–2
Fulham 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 2–1 0–2 1–0 1–0 1–3 1–2 2–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–1
Liverpool 4–1 3–1 1–1 3–0 2–2 2–0 0–0 4–0 1–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 0–0 2–0 4–0 3–0 2–0 2–1 2–0
Manchester City 1–0 0–2 0–3 0–2 0–0 0–1 2–1 3–1 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–0 1–2 0–0 2–0 0–1
Manchester United 0–1 3–1 4–1 4–1 2–0 1–1 3–0 5–1 2–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 3–0 3–2 2–0 1–0 4–0 0–1 3–1
Middlesbrough 1–1 1–3 0–1 5–1 2–0 2–1 2–1 3–1 0–0 0–2 1–2 1–0 0–4 2–1 3–1 2–3 4–1 1–0 1–1
Newcastle United 0–0 3–1 0–2 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–2 2–1 0–1 2–2 0–0 1–0 3–2 0–1 3–1 2–1 2–2 2–1
Portsmouth 0–0 2–2 3–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 2–0 1–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 3–1 3–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–0
Reading 0–4 2–0 1–2 1–0 2–0 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–2 1–0 1–1 3–2 1–0 0–0 3–1 3–1 0–2 6–0 3–2
Sheffield United 1–0 2–2 0–0 2–2 2–1 0–2 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 2–1 1–2 1–1 1–2 2–1 1–0 3–0 1–2
Tottenham Hotspur 2–2 2–1 1–1 4–1 5–1 2–1 0–2 0–0 0–1 2–1 0–4 2–1 2–3 2–1 1–0 2–0 3–1 1–0 3–1
Watford 1–2 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–2 0–1 0–3 3–3 0–3 1–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 4–2 0–0 0–1 0–0 1–1 1–1
West Ham United 1–0 1–1 2–1 3–1 3–1 1–4 1–0 3–3 1–2 0–1 1–0 2–0 0–2 1–2 0–1 1–0 3–4 0–1 0–2
Wigan Athletic 0–1 0–0 0–3 1–3 3–2 2–3 0–2 0–0 0–4 4–0 1–3 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 3–3 1–1 0–3
Source: Barclays Premier League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring
  • Biggest win: 6 goals – Reading 6–0 West Ham United (1 January 2007)
  • Highest scoring match: 8 goals – Arsenal 6–2 Blackburn Rovers
  • First goal: Rob Hulse for Sheffield United against Liverpool (19 August 2006)
  • Last goal: Harry Kewell (pen.) for Liverpool against Charlton Athletic (13 May 2007)

Overall
  • Most wins: 28 – Manchester United
  • Fewest wins: 5 – Watford
  • Most losses: 21 – West Ham United
  • Fewest losses: 3 – Chelsea
  • Most goals scored: 83 – Manchester United
  • Fewest goals scored: 29 – Manchester City and Watford
  • Most goals conceded: 60 – Fulham and Charlton Athletic
  • Fewest goals conceded: 24 – Chelsea

Home
  • Most wins: 15 – Manchester United
  • Fewest wins: 3 – Watford
  • Most losses: 10 – Wigan Athletic
  • Fewest losses: 0 – Chelsea
  • Most goals scored: 46 – Manchester United
  • Fewest goals scored: 10 – Manchester City
  • Most goals conceded: 30 – Wigan Athletic
  • Fewest goals conceded: 7 – Liverpool

Away
  • Most wins: 13 – Manchester United
  • Fewest wins: 1 – Fulham and Charlton Athletic
  • Most losses: 14 – Sheffield United
  • Fewest losses: 3 – Manchester United and Chelsea
  • Most goals scored: 37 – Manchester United
  • Fewest goals scored: 8 – Sheffield United
  • Most goals conceded: 42 – Fulham
  • Fewest goals conceded: 13 – Chelsea

Statistics

Goals
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Didier Drogba Chelsea 20
2 Benni McCarthy Blackburn Rovers 18
3 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United 17
4 Wayne Rooney Manchester United 14
Mark Viduka Middlesbrough 14
6 Darren Bent Charlton Athletic 13
Kevin Doyle Reading 13
8 Dimitar Berbatov Tottenham Hotspur 12
Dirk Kuyt Liverpool 12
Yakubu Middlesbrough 12

15,000th goal

The Premier League expected to have the league's 15,000th goal scored at some point in the period between Christmas and New Year. The target was reached on 30 December when Moritz Volz scored for Fulham against Chelsea. Barclays, the Premiership's sponsor, donated £15,000 to the Fulham Community Sports Trust in Volz' name. Additionally, a fan who correctly predicted that Volz would score the historic goal in a contest presented the player with a special award prior to Fulham's game against Watford at Craven Cottage on 1 January.[15] The honour of scoring the 15,000th goal led to Volz being nicknamed "15,000 Volz".

Goalkeeper scores

On 17 March 2007, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson scored against Watford from an 83-yard free kick, which bounced over his England teammate Ben Foster, who was in goal for the Hornets, leading Spurs to a 3–1 win at White Hart Lane.[16] This was the third goal scored by a goalkeeper in Premiership history. The other two were scored by Peter Schmeichel, for Aston Villa against Everton on 21 October 2001,[17] and Brad Friedel, for Blackburn Rovers against Charlton Athletic on 21 February 2004.[18] In those two cases, the teams they played for lost. Robinson became the first keeper to score for the winning team in a Premiership match.

Relegation controversy

West Ham escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a 1–0 win over Manchester United, with Carlos Tevez scoring the winner.[19] Sheffield United were relegated, along with Charlton and Watford. Tevez was subsequently found to have been ineligible to play, as he was not owned by West Ham, but by a third party. Sheffield United sued to keep their Premier League status and, when that failed, went to an FA arbitration panel seeking up to £30m compensation. The arbitration panel found in favour of Sheffield United.[20] The two clubs subsequently settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[21]

Monthly awards
MonthManagerPlayer
August 2006Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
September 2006Steve Coppell (Reading)Andrew Johnson (Everton)
October 2006Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)Paul Scholes (Manchester United)
November 2006Steve Coppell (Reading)Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
December 2006Sam Allardyce (Bolton)Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
January 2007Rafael Benítez (Liverpool)Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal)
February 2007Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
March 2007José Mourinho (Chelsea)Petr Čech (Chelsea)
April 2007Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa)Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)[lower-alpha 1]
  1. Keane and Berbatov became the first joint winners of the Player of the Month award since Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp and Edu in February 2004[22]

Annual awards

This season's awards were dominated by Manchester United, who, as a team, picked up a total of eight individual awards, five of which went to Cristiano Ronaldo. They also had eight players in the Team of the Year.

PFA Players' Player of the Year

The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2007 was won by Cristiano Ronaldo. He had won the PFA Young Player of the Year award earlier on in the awards ceremony, making him the first player to win both awards in the same year since Andy Gray managed the same feat in 1977. Didier Drogba came second, while Paul Scholes was third.

The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, in alphabetical order, is as follows:

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year award was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. Cesc Fàbregas came in second place, and Aaron Lennon was third. Wayne Rooney was going for a hat-trick of Young Player of the Year awards, having won this award for both of the two preceding seasons, but didn't even feature in the top three for the 2006–07 season.

The shortlist for the award was as follows:

PFA Team of the Year

Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United)
Defence: Gary Neville, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić (all Manchester United)
Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo (all Manchester United)
Attack: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)

PFA Merit Award

The PFA Merit Award was awarded to Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, for his commitment to the club, the Premiership, and as recognition of the nineteen major trophies he has won in his time in England.

PFA Fans' Player of the Year

This award was voted for in an online poll run by the PFA on their website. With four days of voting left before the closing date of midnight on 15 April, the five players with the most votes in the poll were Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Dimitar Berbatov, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard, but it was Ronaldo who managed to fend off the challenges of the other four.

FWA Footballer of the Year

The FWA Footballer of the Year award for 2007 was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo. The award is presented by the Football Writers' Association and voted for by its members. This year, Didier Drogba came second and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes came third and fourth respectively.

Premier League Manager of the Season

The Premier League Manager of the Season award was presented to Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson before the club's final game of the season against West Ham United.

Premier League Player of the Season

The Premier League Player of the Season award was also presented before Manchester United's game with West Ham United on the last day of the season, and was awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo, granting him the sextuple of PFA Players' Player, Young Player, Fans' Player of the Year, Barclays Premiership Player of the Season, Football Writers' Association Player of the Year and a place in the Team of the Year.

Premier League Merit Award

Ryan Giggs was presented with this special award at the same time as the Manager and Player of the Season Awards were given out, in recognition of his record of nine Premier League titles.

Premier League Golden Glove

The Premier League Golden Glove award was presented to Liverpool's Pepe Reina for the second successive season after keeping 19 clean sheets, ahead of Tim Howard of Everton (14) and Marcus Hahnemann of Reading (13).[23]

See also
  • 2006–07 in English football
  • 2006–07 Football League

Notes
  1. "English Premier League 2006–07". statto.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  2. "Curbishley to leave Charlton job". BBC Sport. 24 April 2006. Retrieved 1 July 2006.
  3. "McClaren named as England manager". BBC Sport. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2006.
  4. "Southgate appointed as Boro boss". BBC Sport. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2006.
  5. "O'Neill named Aston Villa manager". BBC Sport. 4 August 2006. Retrieved 4 August 2006.
  6. "Charlton part company with Dowie". BBC Sport. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  7. "Pardew sacked as West Ham manager". BBC Sport. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  8. "Curbishley named West Ham manager". BBC Sport. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 13 December 2006.
  9. "Pardew replaces Reed at Charlton". BBC Sport. 24 December 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2006.
  10. "Coleman out as Sanchez takes over Charlton". BBC Sport. 10 April 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2007.
  11. "Allardyce resigns as Bolton boss". BBC Sport. 29 April 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
  12. "Lee appointed manager of Bolton". BBC Sport. 30 April 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  13. "Roeder resigns as Newcastle boss". BBC Sport. 6 May 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2007.
  14. Spurs win may harm Rovers' Intertoto chances
  15. "VOLZ SCORES 15,000TH PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL". premierleague.com. 30 December 2006. Archived from the original on 23 January 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  16. Lyon, Sam (17 March 2007). "Tottenham 3–1 Watford". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  17. "Schmeichel strike in vain". BBC Sport. 20 October 2001. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  18. "Charlton 3–2 Blackburn". BBC Sport. 21 February 2004. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  19. Nurse, Howard (13 May 2007). "Man Utd 0-1 West Ham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  20. Dollard, Rory (23 September 2008). "Sheffield Utd win ruling against West Ham over Tevez". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  21. Kelso, Paul (13 March 2009). "West Ham and Sheffield United reach out-of-court settlement over Carlos Tevez affair". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  22. "Keane & Berbatov win April award". BBC Sport. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  23. "REINA NETS GOALKEEPING AWARD". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to FA Premier League season 2006-2007.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.