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17th season of the Premier League From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2008–09 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. The season began on Saturday, 16 August 2008,[2] and ended on 24 May 2009. The fixtures were announced on 16 June 2008. A total of 20 teams contested the league, consisting of 17 who competed in the previous season and three promoted from the Football League Championship. The new match ball was the Nike T90 Omni.
Season | 2008–09 |
---|---|
Dates | 16 August 2008 – 24 May 2009 |
Champions | Manchester United 11th Premier League title 18th English title |
Relegated | Newcastle United Middlesbrough West Bromwich Albion |
Champions League | Manchester United Liverpool Chelsea Arsenal |
Europa League | Everton Aston Villa Fulham |
Matches played | 380 |
Goals scored | 942 (2.48 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Nicolas Anelka (19 goals) |
Best goalkeeper | Edwin van der Sar (21 clean sheets) |
Biggest home win | Manchester City 6–0 Portsmouth (21 September 2008) |
Biggest away win | Hull City 0–5 Wigan Athletic (30 August 2008) Middlesbrough 0–5 Chelsea (18 October 2008) West Bromwich Albion 0–5 Manchester United (27 January 2009) |
Highest scoring | Arsenal 4–4 Tottenham Hotspur (29 October 2008) Liverpool 4–4 Arsenal (21 April 2009) |
Longest winning run | 11 games[1] Manchester United |
Longest unbeaten run | 21 games[1] Arsenal |
Longest winless run | 14 games[1] Middlesbrough |
Longest losing run | 6 games[1] Blackburn Rovers Hull City |
Highest attendance | 75,569 Manchester United 1–4 Liverpool (14 March 2009) |
Lowest attendance | 14,169 Wigan Athletic 0–1 West Ham United (4 March 2009) |
Total attendance | 13,524,978 |
Average attendance | 35,592 |
← 2007–08 2009–10 → |
Manchester United began the season as the two-defending champions, having secured their second consecutive (and tenth) Premier League title on the final day of the previous season.
At the start of the season, clubs were allowed to name seven substitutes on the bench instead of five.[3] This season was also different in that there was no New Year's Day game, as is traditional. This was because the FA Cup third round is traditionally played on the first Saturday in January, which in 2009 fell in the usual spot for New Year's league games.[4] September saw Manchester City taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, transforming the football club into one of the world's wealthiest, securing the signing of Robinho for a British record £32.5 million just seconds before the 2008 summer transfer window closed in the process.[5]
The first goal of the season was scored by Arsenal's Samir Nasri against newly promoted West Bromwich Albion in the fourth minute of the early kick-off game on the opening day of the season on 16 August.[6] Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa scored the first hat-trick of the season against Manchester City, scoring three goals in the space of seven minutes.[7]
The title race was a battle between Manchester United and bitter rivals Liverpool, who notably beat them 4–1 at Old Trafford. Liverpool topped the table at the end of 2008, but their lead slipped after a series of draws. On 16 May 2009, Manchester United clinched the Premier League title after a goalless draw against Arsenal. It was their 11th Premier League title and 18th English top flight title overall, tying a record with Liverpool, who finished as runners-up. It was the second time that they had won the title for three consecutive years, the first being in 2001. Only four other clubs have achieved this feat: Liverpool (1982–84), Arsenal (1933–35) and Huddersfield Town (1923–25) and Manchester city (2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24).
West Bromwich Albion were the first team to be relegated to the Championship after losing 2–0 at home to Liverpool on 17 May 2009. Middlesbrough and Newcastle United joined them on the last day of the season after losses at West Ham United and Aston Villa, respectively. The results meant that Hull City and Sunderland stayed up, despite home defeats to Manchester United and Chelsea respectively. The fact that Hull City avoided relegation (along with Stoke City, who stayed up relatively comfortably under the management of Tony Pulis), meant it was the first time since the 2005–06 season that more than one promoted club maintained their Premier League status. Aston Villa, Everton and Fulham, who stayed up last season on goal difference, all secured European football for the 2009–10 season through their league positions.[8]
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 West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City (returning to the top flight after absences of two and twenty-three years respectively) and Hull City (playing Premier League football for the first time ever). It was Stoke City's first ever season in the Premier League. The promoted teams replaced Reading (relegated to the Championship after a two-year top-flight spell), Birmingham City and Derby County (both teams relegated to the Championship after a season's presence).
(as of 24 May 2009)
Also, Nike provided new match balls, white with red and yellow (autumn/spring) and yellow with purple and black (winter), based on their T90 Laser II Omni model.
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chelsea | Avram Grant | Sacked | 24 May 2008[14] | Pre-season | Luiz Felipe Scolari | 1 July 2008[15] |
Manchester City | Sven-Göran Eriksson | Mutual consent | 2 June 2008[16] | Mark Hughes | 4 June 2008[17] | |
Blackburn Rovers | Mark Hughes | Signed by Manchester City | 4 June 2008[17] | Paul Ince | 22 June 2008[18] | |
West Ham United | Alan Curbishley | Resigned | 3 September 2008[19] | 5th | Gianfranco Zola | 11 September 2008[20] |
Newcastle United | Kevin Keegan | 4 September 2008[21] | 11th | Joe Kinnear | 26 September 2008[22] | |
Tottenham Hotspur | Juande Ramos | Sacked | 25 October 2008[23] | 20th | Harry Redknapp | 26 October 2008[23] |
Portsmouth | Harry Redknapp | Signed by Tottenham | 26 October 2008[23] | 7th | Tony Adams | 28 October 2008[24] |
Sunderland | Roy Keane | Resigned | 4 December 2008[25] | 18th | Ricky Sbragia | 27 December 2008[26] |
Blackburn Rovers | Paul Ince | Sacked | 16 December 2008[27] | 19th | Sam Allardyce | 17 December 2008[28] |
Portsmouth | Tony Adams | 9 February 2009[29] | 16th | Paul Hart | 9 February 2009[29] | |
Chelsea | Luiz Felipe Scolari | 9 February 2009[30] | 4th | Guus Hiddink | 11 February 2009[31] | |
Newcastle United | Joe Kinnear | Medical break clause | 16 February 2009 | 13th | Alan Shearer | 31 March 2009[32] |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manchester United (C) | 38 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 68 | 24 | +44 | 90 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage[a] |
2 | Liverpool | 38 | 25 | 11 | 2 | 77 | 27 | +50 | 86 | |
3 | Chelsea | 38 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 68 | 24 | +44 | 83 | |
4 | Arsenal | 38 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 68 | 37 | +31 | 72 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round |
5 | Everton | 38 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 55 | 37 | +18 | 63 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off round[a] |
6 | Aston Villa | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 54 | 48 | +6 | 62 | |
7 | Fulham | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 53 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[a] |
8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 45 | 45 | 0 | 51 | |
9 | West Ham United | 38 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 42 | 45 | −3 | 51 | |
10 | Manchester City | 38 | 15 | 5 | 18 | 58 | 50 | +8 | 50 | |
11 | Wigan Athletic | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 34 | 45 | −11 | 45 | |
12 | Stoke City | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 38 | 55 | −17 | 45 | |
13 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 41 | 53 | −12 | 41 | |
14 | Portsmouth | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 38 | 57 | −19 | 41 | |
15 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 40 | 60 | −20 | 41 | |
16 | Sunderland | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 34 | 54 | −20 | 36 | |
17 | Hull City | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 39 | 64 | −25 | 35 | |
18 | Newcastle United (R) | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 40 | 59 | −19 | 34 | Relegation to Football League Championship |
19 | Middlesbrough (R) | 38 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 28 | 57 | −29 | 32 | |
20 | West Bromwich Albion (R) | 38 | 8 | 8 | 22 | 36 | 67 | −31 | 32 |
Home \ Away | ARS | AVL | BLB | BOL | CHE | EVE | FUL | HUL | LIV | MCI | MUN | MID | NEW | POR | STK | SUN | TOT | WBA | WHU | WIG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arsenal | 0–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | |
Aston Villa | 2–2 | 3–2 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | |
Blackburn Rovers | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | |
Bolton Wanderers | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | |
Chelsea | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | |
Everton | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | |
Fulham | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | |
Hull City | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–5 | |
Liverpool | 4–4 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | |
Manchester City | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | |
Manchester United | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–3 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |
Middlesbrough | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | |
Newcastle United | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–5 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | |
Portsmouth | 0–3 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 1–2 | |
Stoke City | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | |
Sunderland | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | |
Tottenham Hotspur | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | |
West Bromwich Albion | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–5 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | |
West Ham United | 0–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | |
Wigan Athletic | 1–4 | 0–4 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 |
Rank | Player | Club | Goals[41] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicolas Anelka | Chelsea | 19 |
2 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | 18 |
3 | Steven Gerrard | Liverpool | 16 |
4 | Robinho | Manchester City | 14 |
Fernando Torres | Liverpool | 14 | |
6 | Gabriel Agbonlahor | Aston Villa | 12 |
Darren Bent | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | |
Kevin Davies | Bolton Wanderers | 12 | |
Dirk Kuyt | Liverpool | 12 | |
Frank Lampard | Chelsea | 12 | |
Wayne Rooney | Manchester United | 12 |
Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Manager | Club | Player | Club | |
August[52] | Gareth Southgate | Middlesbrough | Deco | Chelsea |
September[53][54] | Phil Brown | Hull City | Ashley Young | Aston Villa |
October[55] | Rafael Benítez | Liverpool | Frank Lampard | Chelsea |
November[56] | Gary Megson | Bolton Wanderers | Nicolas Anelka | Chelsea |
December[57] | Martin O'Neill | Aston Villa | Ashley Young | Aston Villa |
January[58] | Sir Alex Ferguson | Manchester United | Nemanja Vidić | Manchester United |
February[59] | David Moyes | Everton | Phil Jagielka | Everton |
March[60] | Rafael Benítez | Liverpool | Steven Gerrard | Liverpool |
April[61] | Sir Alex Ferguson | Manchester United | Andrey Arshavin | Arsenal |
Sir Alex Ferguson, 67, picked up the Premier League Manager of the Season for the ninth time. During his hugely successful spell with Manchester United, which began in 1986, he won eleven Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, three European titles, one Intercontinental Cup and one Club World Cup.[62]
Nemanja Vidić, 27, won the Premier League Player of the Season accolade for the first time.[63]
The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2009 was won by Ryan Giggs of Manchester United.
The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award was as follows:
Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United)
Defence: Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić (all Manchester United)
Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs (both Manchester United), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Attack: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
The PFA Young Player of the Year award was won by Ashley Young of Aston Villa.
The shortlist for the award was as follows:
The FWA Footballer of the Year award for 2009 was won by Steven Gerrard for the first time. The Liverpool captain saw off the challenges of Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs and forward Wayne Rooney, who finished second and third respectively.
Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka won the Premier League Golden Boot award for the first time. He scored 19 goals in 35 appearances, which ensured he finished as the season's top scorer.
Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar collected the Premier League Golden Glove award for the first time. He kept a total of 21 clean sheets in 33 appearances, including a record run of 11 consecutive clean sheets (1,311 minutes) from Stoke City on 15 November 2008 to West Bromwich Albion on 27 January 2009.
The Premier League Fair Play Award is merit given to the team who has been the most sporting and best behaved team. Fulham won this, ahead of London neighbours Chelsea and Arsenal. Hull City were deemed the least sporting side, finished in last place in the rankings[64][65][66]
The LMA Manager of the Year award was won by David Moyes after he led Everton to back-to-back fifth-place finishes and the FA Cup final.[67]
Steven Gerrard was named the PFA Fans' Player of the Year.[68]
The Premier League Spirit Award is given to "the player or manager whose actions best encapsulate the spirit of the game". In recognition for leading his club to the top of the Fair Play league, the Premier League Spirit Award for 2008–09 was given to Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.[72]
Given to the best-behaved fans, Fulham won this for the third consecutive year, rounding off a hat-trick of sporting awards.[64]
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