2006/2007 SEASON
Sunday 13th May 2007
| Pld W D L F A | Pld W D L F A | Pld W D L F A GD Pts |
1. MANCHESTER UNITED 19 15 2 2 46 12 19 13 3 3 37 15 38 28 5 5 83 27 +56 89
2. Chelsea 19 12 7 0 37 11 19 12 4 3 27 13 38 24 11 3 64 24 +40 83
3. Liverpool 19 14 4 1 39 7 19 6 4 9 18 20 38 20 8 10 57 27 +30 68
4. Arsenal 19 12 6 1 43 16 19 7 5 7 20 19 38 19 11 8 63 35 +28 68
5. Tottenham Hotspur 19 12 3 4 34 22 19 5 6 8 23 32 38 17 9 12 57 54 +3 60
6. Everton 19 11 4 4 33 17 19 4 9 6 19 19 38 15 13 10 52 36 +16 58
7. Bolton Wanderers 19 9 5 5 26 20 19 7 3 9 21 32 38 16 8 14 47 52 -5 56
- - - - - - - - - - - EUROPEAN QUALIFICATION - - - - - - - - - -
8. Reading 19 11 2 6 29 20 19 5 5 9 25 29 38 16 7 15 54 49 +5 55
9. Portsmouth 19 11 5 3 28 15 19 3 7 9 17 27 38 14 12 12 45 42 +3 54
10. Blackburn Rovers 19 9 3 7 31 25 19 6 4 9 21 29 38 15 7 16 52 54 -2 52
11. Aston Villa 19 7 8 4 20 14 19 4 9 6 23 27 38 11 17 10 43 41 +2 50
12. Middlesbrough 19 10 3 6 31 24 19 2 7 10 13 25 38 12 10 16 44 49 -5 46
13. Newcastle United 19 7 7 5 23 20 19 4 3 12 15 27 38 11 10 17 38 47 -9 43
14. Manchester City 19 5 6 8 10 16 19 6 3 10 19 28 38 11 9 18 29 44 -15 42
15. West Ham United 19 8 2 9 24 26 19 4 3 12 11 33 38 12 5 21 35 59 -24 41
16. Fulham 19 7 7 5 18 18 19 1 8 10 20 42 38 8 15 15 38 60 -22 39
17. Wigan Athletic 19 5 4 10 18 30 19 5 4 10 19 29 38 10 8 20 37 59 -22 38
- - - - - - - - - - - RELEGATED TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP - - - - - - - - - -
18. Sheffield United 19 7 6 6 24 21 19 3 2 14 8 34 38 10 8 20 32 55 -23 38
19. Charlton Athletic 19 7 5 7 19 20 19 1 5 13 15 40 38 8 10 20 34 60 -26 34
20. Watford 19 3 9 7 19 25 19 2 4 13 10 34 38 5 13 20 29 59 -30 28
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFIERS:
Manchester United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
UEFA CUP QUALIFIERS:
Tottenham Hotspur
Everton
Bolton Wanderers
INTERTOTO CUP:
Blackburn Rovers
PROMOTED FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP:
Sunderland (1st)
Birmingham City (2nd)
Derby County (Play-off Winners)
RELEGATED TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP:
Sheffield United
Charlton Athletic
Watford
Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea
FA CUP FINAL:
Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (After Extra Time)
CARLING CUP FINAL:
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
ARSENAL
League: 4th
FA Cup: 5th Round
League Cup: Runners-up
Biggest Victory: 6-2 (h) Blackburn Rovers
Heaviest Defeat: 1-4 (a) Liverpool
Another slightly disappointing season for the Gunners, whose season was effectively over in March after crashing out of the Champion’s League against PSV Eindhoven and losing to Blackburn in an FA Cup 5th round replay. In their first season at their new Emirates Stadium, Arsenal initially struggled at home but managed to go through the season losing just once there, in April to West Ham United by a solitary goal. However, back-to-back finishes of fourth in the league mean Champion’s League qualification is almost certain, although it was another trophy-less season for the North London outfit, who just missed out on the Carling Cup after Wenger’s youthful side were defeated by London neighbours Chelsea in a dirty contest.
ASTON VILLA
League: 11th
FA Cup: 3rd Round
Biggest Victory: 3-0 (h) Sheffield United
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (a) Chelsea (League Cup)
Villa showed real improvement under new boss Martin O’Neill and were difficult to beat all season. Infact, they were undefeated in their first seven games – winning three – and their final nine matches – in which they won four. However, a poor run during the middle of the season threatened the side with relegation before the late surge saw the club finish 11th. Despite a considerable improvement from the previous year, Villa were the draw specialists with 17 and only won 11 games. They were knocked out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle after a goalkeeping error from Gabor Kiraly saw Manchester United defeat them 2-1 with a last minute goal.
BLACKBURN ROVERS
League: 10th
FA Cup: Semi-Finals
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (a) Luton Town (FA Cup)
Heaviest Defeat: 2-6 (a) Arsenal
Although Rovers failed to qualify for Europe via the top seven league placings, the Lancashire club had a good run in the UEFA Cup after 2006’s 6th-placed finish. They still, however, have a chance of playing in the competition for next season as they were the highest-placed applicant for the Intertoto Cup. Even though they weren’t quite as good in the league as the previous season, Blackburn also had a decent FA Cup run, making the semi-finals, defeating Everton, Luton, Arsenal and Manchester City along the way before a brave effort against Chelsea ended with a 1-2 extra time defeat.
BOLTON WANDERERS
League: 7th
FA Cup: 4th Round
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (h) West Ham United
Heaviest Defeat: 1-5 (a) Middlesbrough
Wanderers got off to a flyer and were regularly in the top five for the majority of the season and seemed intent on securing one of the four Champion’s League slots. However, their season fell away slightly towards the end, but they managed European qualification after finishing seventh. Boss Sam Allardyce ended his eight-year reign at the club with two remaining league matches and subsequently moved to Newcastle United in May. It was left to Sammy Lee to guide Bolton into Europe, and he duly did with a 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa on the final day.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC
League: 19th
FA Cup: 3rd Round
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (h) West Ham United
Heaviest Defeat: 1-5 (a) Tottenham Hotspur
Iain Dowie was appointed as the new Charlton Athletic manager during the summer after Alan Curbishley had ended his 15-year legacy at the club after stepping down after the final game at Manchester United in 2005/06. However, Charlton struggled under Dowie’s guidance and he was perhaps slightly unfortunate to lose his job after only 12 matches in charge. Coach Les Read took over, but things went from bad to worse and after the Addicks had just recorded one further league win, suffered an embarrassing home defeat to League Two Wycombe Wanderers in the Carling Cup, and had slumped to the bottom of the Premiership, the club – who had previously claimed Reed would remain in charge for the entire campaign – changed managers yet again in December. Ironically, it was recently fired West Ham manager Alan Pardew who took over, whilst Curbishley meanwhile had accepted the West Ham job. Under Pardew, the South-East London side showed immediate signs of improvement and as the season drew towards a close, Charlton had dragged themselves out of the relegation zone. Unfortunately, they couldn’t maintain the form which had seen them rise out of the bottom three during the final month and a half, and the Addicks’ relegation was confirmed after a Monday night 0-2 home loss to Spurs. Charlton will be playing in the second tier of English football for the first time in nine years next season.
CHELSEA
League: 2nd
FA Cup: Winners
League Cup: Winners
Biggest Victory: 6-1 (h) Macclesfield Town (FA Cup)
Heaviest Defeat: 0-2 (a) Liverpool
For the first time in three years the Blues failed to secure the Premiership title, but did manage to triumph in both domestic cup competitions, seeing off Arsenal 2-1 in the Carling Cup final in Cardiff in February, and then edging out Manchester United with an extra time goal in an absolute shocker at the new Wembley, which was hosting it’s first FA Cup final. There was disappointment in the Champion’s League, however, as Chelsea reached the semi-finals only to face Liverpool in a repeat of the 2004/05 semi-final. History repeated itself, and despite winning the fist leg 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, the Blues crashed out of the competition after a 1-4 penalty shootout defeat at Anfield, with the scores level 1-1 on aggregate after extra time.
EVERTON
League: 6th
FA Cup: 3rd Round
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (h) Luton Town (League Cup)
Heaviest Defeat: 1-4 (h) Blackburn Rovers (FA Cup)
A much better season for Everton who dramatically improved on 2005/06’s performance by securing a European spot for the second time in three years. Summer signing Andrew Johnson made an immediate impact, scoring early on in his Everton debut on the opening day in a 2-1 victory over Watford, and was the club’s leading scorer until injury forced an early end to his season. Despite a very respectable 6th-placed finish in the Premiership, the Toffees failed to make an impact on the cup competitions, exiting the FA Cup straight away after a crushing 1-4 home loss to Blackburn and losing out 0-1 to Arsenal in the Carling Cup. However, the club can look forward to next season’s UEFA Cup campaign, hoping that they won’t get knocked out immediately like the disastrous, brief European adventure of the previous season which saw the Blues dumped out of the Champion’s League qualifying round and then the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup with a whimper.
FULHAM
League: 16th
FA Cup: 5th Round
Biggest Victory: 4-3 (h) Leicester City (FA Cup replay)
Heaviest Defeat: 1-5 (a) Manchester United
Rather like Aston Villa, Fulham were also draw specialists – accumulating 15 in total in the league, but after showing decent early season form, they really struggled during the Spring. The Cottagers’ Premiership campaign began in disastrous fashion, as they found themselves 0-4 down at Old Trafford with just 19 minutes of the new season gone. The game ended 5-1 to Manchester United and Fulham were immediately bottom of the table. However the club remained in the top half of the Premiership table for much of late 2006, but a poor succession of results which culminated in a 1-3 home loss to Manchester City saw Chris Coleman lose his job after four years in charge. Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez arrived on a short-term basis and led the team to safety with a 1-0 win over a severely, and rather deliberately, weakened Liverpool side with one game remaining. Sanchez later then signed a permanent deal with the West London outfit, leaving his post as Northern Ireland manager. A difficult season for Fulham saw them win just eight games in the league, none of them by more than a single goal.
LIVERPOOL
League: 3rd
FA Cup: 3rd Round
League Cup: Quarter-Finals
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (h) Fulham, Sheffield United
Heaviest Defeat: 3-6 (h) Arsenal (League Cup)
Yet again Liverpool got off to a poor start in the League; in particular their away form was atrocious, only managing one point from their first six travels, a rather fortunate 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane on the opening day. However, their traditional strong home form – which saw them lose only once, a 0-1 defeat to Manchester United – pulled them in the right direction and the club managed back-to-back 3rd-placed finishes in the league. The Reds had mixed fortunes in the cup competitions; they relinquished their FA Cup holders title at the first hurdle, losing 1-3 at home to Arsenal, and were destroyed by the Gunners 6-3 (again at Anfield) in the Carling Cup, in which Julio Baptista notched a hat-trick for the visitors, and missed a penalty. However, the Reds shone in the Champion’s League, reaching a second final in three years. Their 2007 opposition were AC Milan, ironically the team they defeated in the final just two years previously to seal the trophy. This time it was not to be, and Milan won 2-1, ending Liverpool’s final chance to win a trophy in 2006/07.
MANCHESTER CITY
League: 14th
FA Cup: Quarter-Finals
League Cup: 2nd Round
Biggest Victory: 3-1 (h) Fulham; (a) Aston Villa, Fulham
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (a) Wigan Athletic
It was a tough season for Manchester City who were almost permanently in the bottom half of the Premiership. Things began poorly with a crushing 0-3 defeat against the 2006 champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and manager Stuart Pearce was constantly under pressure. As a result of their poor form during the first half of 2006/07, City were flirting with relegation, but managed to pull off vital wins at Sheffield United and West Ham during December to ease their fears. 2007 did not begin well either, but City found form at the right time to pull themselves clear. Despite a reasonably impressive away record which saw the club win six games on their travels, they really struggled at home, winning only five games and setting a new Premiership record by scoring the fewest number of goals at home in season. They managed just ten in nineteen games, which included an incredible 13 shutouts (games in which they failed to score) at Eastlands, and only managed 29 goals in total in the league. This was also despite being unbeaten at home for their first six matches. Stuart Pearce, who accepted the role to become England’s U21 manager earlier on in the season, was sacked just after the season finished. Interestingly enough, City only managed one point fewer than last season’s tally of 43, yet the Manchester City faithful seem to regard this season as a failure.
MANCHESTER UNITED
League: 1st
FA Cup: Runners-up
Biggest Victory: 7-1 (h) Roma (Champion’s League)
Heaviest Defeat: 0-3 (a) AC Milan (Champion’s League)
The Red Devils regained the Premiership title for the first time in four seasons, winning the title comfortably from Chelsea by six points. Their final tally of 89 points is actually the lowest title-winning number of points in the past four seasons. United set the tone straight from the beginning, storming to the top of the Premiership win four wins from the first four games, including crushing wins against Fulham (5-1) and Charlton (3-0). Although Chelsea were always right on their tail, they could never quite catch up and United sealed their ninth Premiership title. They also had reasonable success in the cup competitions, reaching the FA Cup final, and the Champion’s League semi-final, which along the way saw the Reds demolish AS Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford after trailing 2-1 from the first leg. However, their semi-final opponents (and eventual winners) AC Milan proved too good for them, and they were sent to a crushing 0-3 defeat in Italy after a topsy-turvy 3-2 win at Old Trafford in the first leg. Championship strugglers Southend United embarrassed United in the Carling Cup at Roots Hall when Freddie Eastwood’s spectacular free-kick sent them crashing out by a solitary goal.
MIDDLESBROUGH
League: 12th
FA Cup: Quarter-Finals
Biggest Victory: 5-1 (h) Bolton Wanderers
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (h) Portsmouth
Rookie manager and former Boro’ player Gareth Southgate took over at the Riverside after Steve McClaren accepted the England job in the summer. He suffered a tricky start, however, as he saw his side relinquish a 2-0 lead at newly-promoted Reading to lose the game 2-3 on the opening day, but their next match saw a fantastic comeback in the last ten minutes to defeat Chelsea 2-1 at the Riverside. Boro’s inconsistency showed as they then lost their final game of August 0-4 at home to a rampant Portsmouth. Despite their early problems, Middlesbrough were never really in danger of the drop, but all the same they were never good enough to make a serious impact on the top half of the division but they did end the season above their North-East rivals Newcastle United. The Teesside outfit had moderate success in the domestic cup competitions – they made the quarter-finals of the FA Cup where they were unlucky to lose to a disputed late Cristiano Ronaldo penalty in a replay at Old Trafford, having held the Red Devils to a thrilling 2-2 draw at home, but in the Carling Cup they were dumped out at home to lowly Notts County by a solitary goal.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
League: 13th
FA Cup: 3rd Round
Biggest Victory: 4-2 (h) AZ Alkmaar (UEFA Cup)
Heaviest Defeat: 1-5 (h) Birmingham City (FA Cup replay)
Newcastle suffered an attacking crisis even before the season began with Michael Owen suffering a serious injury whilst on duty with England in the 2006 World Cup and prolific goalscorer Alan Shearer having just retired. Obafemi Martins was brought to Tyneside for a sizeable fee, but he initially stuggled to find the net before hitting form later on in the season. Toon began very poorly, slumping into the bottom three after 12 games, with just two wins, but after an improvement in results, relegation was never an issue. Whilst they struggled in the Premiership, the team made good progress in the UEFA Cup, before being dumped out by Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. Newcastle did, however pick up their first trophy for 52 years in the process by winning the Intertoto Cup. Not that it was much consolation, as it was Toon’s worst performance in a Premiership season, collecting a club low 43 points. They also faired poorly in the FA Cup, being knocked out in the 3rd round, when they suffered a humiliating 1-5 trouncing at home to Championship Birmingham City in a replay. Glenn Roeder resigned at the end of a disappointing season, and it’s now up to Sam Allardyce to try and turn the club’s fortunes around.
PORTSMOUTH
League: 9th
FA Cup: 4th Round
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (a) Middlesbrough
Heaviest Defeat: 0-3 (a) Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Manchester United
Having masterminded a great escape at the end of 2005/06, Portsmouth began the season at lightning pace, defeating Blackburn 3-0 on the opening day and the South Coast club found themselves top of the Premiership after five games with four victories. It inevitably didn’t last long as they were displaced after suffering their first defeat of the season in their next match – a 0-1 home loss to Bolton Wanderers. However, Pompey were much improved from the previous year and looked odds-on to seal a European place until they fell away slightly towards the end of the season, and failure to beat Arsenal on the final day meant they just missed out. But an impressive 9th spot – Pompey’s best Premiership finish – rounded off a very good season for Harry Redknapp and his team.
READING
League: 8th
FA Cup: 5th Round
Biggest Victory: 6-0 (h) West Ham United
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (h) Arsenal
Reading’s first-ever season in the top flight of English football began disastrously as they found themselves 0-2 down against Middlesbrough after just 20 minutes of the new season, but an incredible turnaround saw the Royals win the match 3-2. The Berkshire club fared reasonably well early on, although they were inconsistent, but they managed to string several impressive wins together during the middle of the season to give unlikely hope of a European place, as they held 6th position for a couple of months. An untimely run of defeats in early Spring meant that Reading had to win at Blackburn on the final day to still keep their UEFA Cup dreams alive, but a 3-3 draw meant they finished a highly respectable 8th in their first season in the Premiership season. Not that boss Steve Coppell was unhappy to have missed out on a European place, nor was he attempting to make progress in the domestic cup competitions, as he fielded weakened teams. To their credit, the Royals held Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and twice held Manchester United (once at Old Trafford in a 5th round FA Cup tie); the only time they were outclassed was a 0-4 hammering at home to Arsenal.
SHEFFIELD UNITED
League: 18th
FA Cup: 3rd Round
Biggest Victory: 3-0 (h) West Ham United
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (a) Liverpool
United finally returned to the big-time after an absence of 12 years and contested the very first match of the new 2006/07 season – a lunchtime kick-off against Liverpool at Bramall Lane, in which they took the lead before being pegged back by a slightly fortuitous penalty. Initially, Sheffield found it hard to adjust to life in the Premiership – failing to win any of their six opening games – but they gradually hit their stride and were a competitive outfit, despite rarely moving out of the bottom five. Having reached the twenty-point mark by Christmas, the Blades were on course to avoid relegation, but a damaging loss of form during March and early April saw them dragged back into the dogfight, having been ten points ahead of 19th-placed West Ham in February. But they won a vital six-pointer against the Hammers 3-0 to open up a five point game between themselves and the drop zone, and on the final day of the season they were lying in 16th position with a crucial game against 18th-placed Wigan Athletic (who trailed United by three points) which would ultimately decide who would go down. A dramatic set of results which saw Wigan win at Bramall Lane and 17th-placed West Ham shock champions Manchester United at Old Trafford meant Sheffield United returned to the Championship in 18th position by the narrowest of margins; indeed Wigan had escaped by having a superior goal difference of just one goal. But both Sheffield United and Wigan complained about the FA not docking West Ham three points over the suspicious transfer of Carlos Tevez; had three points been taken away from the Hammers, it would have been them and not Sheffield who would have gone down, again by the narrowest of margins. Unfortunately for Sheffield United, their complaints are unlikely to have an impact on the ruling of the case as they agreed to an independent panel to assess the case and hand out a punishment.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
League: 5th
FA Cup: Quarter-Finals
League Cup: Semi-Finals
Biggest Victory: 5-1 (h) Charlton Athletic
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (h) Manchester United
After their best-ever Premiership finish the previous season, Spurs began poorly, winning only one of their first six games and struggling to find the net in the process with only two goals (both scored against Sheffield United). But new signing Dimitar Berbatov was influential in Spurs matching last season’s fifth place finish and another UEFA Cup run to look forward to; Indeed the North London side reached the quarter finals of the competition in 2006/07, losing out to holders and eventual winners Sevilla. They also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, almost causing an upset at Stamford Bridge where they led 3-1 going into half time. However, Chelsea rescued the tie and won the replay at White-Hart Lane. Tottenham narrowly missed out on success in the Carling Cup too, losing to bitter rivals Arsenal in the semi-finals, having been 2-0 up at home in the first leg only to draw the match 2-2. The second leg ended in a 3-1 Arsenal win. Although Spurs managed plenty of goals with Berbatov in hot form, their defence was leaky, and they only managed six clean sheets in conceding 54 league goals.
WATFORD
League: 20th
FA Cup: Semi-Finals
Biggest Victory: 4-1 (h) Stockport County (FA Cup)
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (a) Chelsea, Manchester United
Unfancied Watford were expected to make an immediate return to the Championship, and they made a slow start, only winning their first game after 11 matches – a 2-0 triumph at home to Middlesbrough. It took the Hertfordshire side until February to record their second win, and although they quickly followed that success up with their first away win in the league at Upton Park to overtake West Ham, they never really stood a chance in surviving after such a difficult start. They became the first team to get relegated when they drew 1-1 with Manchester City at Vicarage Road in April, having spent most of the season rooted to the bottom. Despite only collecting 28 points, Watford eclipsed their previous total of 24 the last time they were in the Premiership in 1999/2000. And although being well below-par in the league, the Hornets had a good FA Cup run to the semi-finals where they put up a valiant effort against Manchester United, only to lose 4-1.
WEST HAM UNITED
League: 15th
FA Cup: 4th Round
League Cup: 3rd Round
Biggest Victory: 3-0 (h) Brighton & Hove Albion (FA Cup); (a) Wigan Athletic
Heaviest Defeat: 0-6 (a) Reading
2006/07 was a real rollercoaster ride for the Hammers. Having begun this season where they left off from last year with a 3-1 win over Charlton, the Irons actually topped the table for 24 hours after a 1-1 draw in the next match against Watford. However, things took a dramatic turn for the worst as the team lost nine out of their next ten matches, including an embarrassing 1-2 defeat at League One Chesterfield in the Carling Cup, and an early exit from the UEFA Cup against Palermo, losing 0-4 on aggregate. The Hammers had a run of seven consecutive games without scoring during that spell and subsequently plummeted down the Premiership table. There was a brief upturn in fortunes as the Hammers won three out of the next five league games, but three consecutive defeats without a goal scored, culminating in a shocking 0-4 defeat at Bolton spelled the end for Alan Pardew. New chairman Eggert Magnusson appointed Alan Curbishley and his reign as West Ham boss got off to the perfect start with a 1-0 win over Manchester United (who had only previously lost to Arsenal). A decent display in a 0-0 draw at Fulham followed, but then another disastrous three consecutive defeats came, including a New Year’s Day horror show at Reading which saw the Hammers defence torn apart in a humiliating 6-0 demolition. West Ham then threw away leads in their next two games against Fulham and Newcastle and had to settle for just a point from each one. Just as the team had looked to have shown a fighting quality, another dreadful run of six consecutive defeats followed, which saw the Hammers exit the FA Cup at home to Watford and surely condemned the club to Championship football. Well, not quite. It was a controversial game at Blackburn which saw a dramatic upturn in fortunes for the club. With the scores level at 1-1, Bobby Zamora’s disputed goal (the goal which never was) gave West Ham a long overdue win and sparked an amazing run of seven wins from the final nine games to secure Premiership football for 2007/08. Carlos Tevez, who had caused controversy over his transfer to Upton Park in August, was instrumental in saving the Upton Park club from relegation, having taken seven months to finally score his first goal in the 3-4 loss at home to Tottenham, and he netted a further six times as the Hammers ended in 15th place, their highest placing since September.
WIGAN ATHLETIC
League: 17th
Biggest Victory: 4-0 (h) Manchester City
Heaviest Defeat: 0-4 (h) Liverpool, (a) Chelsea
After a fantastic first-ever season in the Premiership last year, Wigan were brought back down to earth as they struggled to find any early season form. Four consecutive wins brought the team back into the top half of the table, but they suffered more poor form and found themselves in a relegation battle heading into the final months of the season. After three wins in four appeared to have banished any fears of relegation, the Latics again had a dramatic slump in form and after a 0-3 thrashing at home to relegation rivals West Ham in April, the Hammers had wiped out the gap to draw level on points, after Wigan had been seven points clear of the Hammers at the beginning of the month. Wigan’s final home game was a must-win tie against Middlesbrough, but with West Ham winning, the Latics crashed to a 0-1 loss and relegation seemed inevitable. Their final game was a crunch match against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, one which Wigan had to win to stay up. They duly did, and with the incredible scoreline at Old Trafford which saw West Ham stay up (had they lost they would have gone down), Sheffield United filled the last relegation slot and Wigan survived by having a very slightly superior goal difference – only just. Manager Paul Jewell, who guided the club up from the Second Division to the Premiership stepped down from his post to take a break from football. His assistant Chris Hutchings was appointed as the club’s new manager.
In a remarkable season for West Ham United, I have compiled a few statistics below just to show how good we were at times, and how bloody hopeless we were on other occasions - makes for interesting reading I believe.
WEST HAM UNITED RECORD VERSUS THE TOP FOUR:
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
1. Chelsea 8 3 4 1 9 6 13
2. Liverpool 8 4 0 4 10 10 12
3. West Ham Utd 8 4 0 4 7 9 12
4. Arsenal 8 3 2 3 9 9 11
5. Man United 8 2 2 4 5 6 8
WEST HAM UNITED RECORD VERSUS THE BOTTOM FIVE (OR BOTTOM SIX AS WEST HAM FNISHED IN THE BOTTOM SIX):
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
1. Sheff Utd 10 6 1 3 12 6 19
2. Wigan 10 4 3 3 10 10 15
3. Fulham 10 2 6 2 11 12 12
4. West Ham Utd 10 3 3 4 11 15 12
5. Charlton 10 2 4 4 15 15 10
6. Watford 10 1 7 2 9 10 10
As you can see, West Ham actually faired better against the top sides than the bottom sides around them. Four wins out of eight aginst the top four teams is pretty respectable, just the same only three wins against the five teams below them is nothing to write home about.
LAST NINE GAMES OF THE 06/07 PREMIERSHIP SEASON FOR EACH TEAM:
After the 3-4 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur in early March, West Ham United sank to the bottom of the Premiership. That was after 29 games. But the phenomenal turnaround in the Hammers' last nine games saw the club rise into 15th spot with a superb run of form. This table below is the final nine Premiership games for each team. As you can see West Ham are the very top - quite remarkable theat we should appear top for the last nine games, whilst being rooted to the bottom for the first 29. Oh well!
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
1. West Ham Utd 9 7 0 2 14 9 21
2. Tottenham 9 5 3 1 17 11 18
3. Man United 9 5 2 2 17 8 17
4. Chelsea 9 4 5 0 13 5 17
5. Aston Villa 9 4 5 0 11 6 17
6. Liverpool 9 4 3 2 13 7 15
7. Everton 9 4 3 2 15 10 15
8. Arsenal 9 3 4 2 12 11 13
9. Portsmouth 9 3 4 2 9 11 13
10. Blackburn 9 3 3 3 17 15 12
11. Reading 9 3 3 3 9 9 12
12. Middlesbro 9 3 1 5 12 15 10
13. Charlton 9 2 4 3 8 11 10
14. Man City 9 2 3 4 7 10 9
15. Bolton 9 2 3 4 13 18 9
16. Watford 9 2 2 5 11 16 8
17. Sheff Utd 9 2 1 6 7 14 7
18. Newcastle 9 1 3 5 4 10 6
19. Wigan 9 1 3 5 7 15 6
20. Fulham 9 1 3 5 6 16 6
SOME OTHER HIGHS / LOWS OF 2006-07:
Obviously the greatest-ever escape by the Hammers ranks pretty highly in an otherwise shambolic season. Carlos Tevez was fantastic towards the end of the season and instrumental in our survival, as were Robert Green between the sticks and young Mark Noble, who scored an absolute belter of a volley against Bolton. Seeing Sheffield United getting relegated after all their moaning was quite pleasing, although they still feel it is necessary to try and appeal about their relegation - but so far they've lost two appeals - which says "give it up". Infact Sheffield Wednesday may now become my second favourite team after all this nonsense. And to all those morons who still think we should have been relegated - Carlos Tevez was ELIGIBLE to play; if he wasn't only then should we have had points deducted. Pretty simple really. And for those who still brand West Ham as "cheats", well what we did wrong was fail to disclose a piece of paper-work. Cheating is what all those Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool players do week in week out - Drogba and Ronaldo diving and rolling around on the floor feigning injury - that's cheating. Enough said. One thing which brought a big smile to my face was seeing Southend United knock out the Mancs in the Carling Cup with a superb Freddie Eastwood free-kick in a 1-0 win at Roots Hall. Another thing I found rather funny (not because I have anything against them) was the plight of Lancaster City. For those of you who don't follow the Conference North (now the Blue Square North) division, that is the division Lancaster City play in - or rather that was the division they used to play in. Having got into financial difficulty in December 2006, City - with only two wins and three draws to their name - had to sell all their playing staff and replace them with some not-so-good part-timers. They also suffered a ten-point deduction for going into administration, which left them on -1 points for the majority of the second half of the season. They ended the season with a solitary point with 2 wins, 5 draws and 35 losses from their 42 league games. They also scored only 27 goals, conceding a mammoth 110 and leaving a goal difference of -83. Rather unsurprisingly they finished well adrift at the bottom of the table, relegated along with Scarborough, who went out of business after 128 years of football (now replaced by newly formed Scarborough Athletic), and Worksop. 2005/2006 was the lowest-scoring Premiership season ever with no games containing more than 7 goals - the first time that has ever happened in 14 years. Well this season managed to eclipse that, unfortunately. Although there was a game with 8 goals (Arsenal 6 Blackburn 2), there was only one game with 7 goals (West Ham 3 Spurs 4) which paved the way for a large collection of very dull games. Only 933 goals were scored (2.46 goals per game) - 2006/2007 is now the lowest-scoring Premiership season. And rather predictably, it was Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal making up the top four again. I personally think the abysmal FA Cup final summed up the predictable and very boring state Premier League football is in. Let's hope something changes soon.