Middlesbrough 0–4 Portsmouth (28 August 2006) Reading 0–4 Arsenal (22 October 2006) Bolton Wanderers 0–4 Manchester United (28 October 2006) Wigan Athletic 0–4 Liverpool (2 December 2006) Tottenham Hotspur 0–4 Manchester United (4 February 2007)
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. Chelsea were the two-time defending champions.
On 12 February 2007, the FA Premier League renamed itself simply to the Premier League. The change introduced a new logo, sleeve patches and typeface. The sponsored name remains the Barclays Premier League.
The 2006–07 season was the lowest-scoring season in Premier League history, with only 931 goals (with a 2.45 goals per match ratio, the poorest in the history of Premier League).[citation needed]
Manchester United won their first Premiership title since 2003, following Chelsea's 1–1 draw with Arsenal on 6 May 2007. The result left the defending champions seven points behind United with two games left. It was their ninth title in fifteen seasons.
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 Football League 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, who were relegated to the Championship after their top flight spells of four, two and one year respectively.
Source: Premier League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. (C) Champions; (R) Relegated Notes:
^Since both finalists of the FA Cup (Manchester United and Chelsea) and the League Cupwinners (Chelsea) were qualified for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup spots were given to the 6th- and 7th-placed Premier League teams.
^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.
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".[citation needed]
Goalkeeper scores
On 17 March 2007, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeperPaul 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]
^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.[23]
The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, in alphabetical order, is as follows:
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 did not feature in the top three for the 2006–07 season.[23]
The PFA Merit Award was awarded to Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, for his commitment to the club, the Premier League, and in recognition of the 19 major trophies he had won in his time in England.[23]
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.
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.
