FA Premier League 2002–03

Infobox Football league season
competition = FA Premier League
season = 2002–03
winners = Manchester United
8th Premier League title
15th top-flight English title
runners-up = Arsenal
relegated = West Ham
West Bromwich Albion
Sunderland
continentalcup1 = Champions League
continentalcup1 qualifiers = Manchester United (Group stage)
Arsenal (Group stage)
Newcastle (Third qualifying round)
Chelsea (Third qualifying round)
continentalcup2 = UEFA Cup
continentalcup2 qualifiers = Southampton (First round; via FA Cup)
Blackburn Rovers (First round)
Liverpool (First round; via League Cup & position)
Manchester City (First qualifying round; via Fair Play)
continentalcup3 =
continentalcup3 qualifiers =
league topscorer = Ruud van Nistelrooy (25)
biggest home win = Chelsea 5-0 Manchester City (2003-03-22)
Arsenal 6-1 Southampton (2003-05-07)
biggest away win = West Bromwich Albion 0–6 Liverpool (2003-04-26)
highest scoring = Manchester United 5-3 Newcastle United (2002-11-23)
Newcastle United 2-6 Manchester United (2003-04-12)
total goals = 1,000
average goals = 2.64
longest wins = Liverpool (7)
longest unbeaten = Manchester United (18)
longest losses =
highest attendance = 67,721 Man Utd v Charlton Athletic
lowest attendance = 14,017 Fulham v Blackburn
average attendance = 35,470
prevseason = 2001-02
nextseason = 2003-04The FA Premier League 2002-03 season (often referred to as the 2002-03 Barclaycard Premiership, due to sponsorship rights) was the eleventh season of the competition. The first group of matches were played on August 17, 2002 and ended on May 11, 2003. Manchester United ended the campaign as champions for the eighth time in eleven years - an achievement made all the more remarkable by the fact that defending champions Arsenal had led by eight points in the beginning of March, with United having a game in hand. Although this was a season of breaking new English domestic records for the Gunners and leading at all fronts come the halfway stage, they threw away a priceless lead against Bolton Wanderers and finally surrendered the title with a 3-2 home defeat to Leeds United, in the penultimate game of the season. This result all but saved Leeds from relegation, with a game to spare.

Newcastle United and Chelsea were the other two teams who qualified for the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool had to settle for the UEFA Cup; they would be joined in Europe by Blackburn Rovers for their second successive season.

Newly promoted sides Manchester City and Birmingham finished in ninth and thirteenth, respectively. Sunderland broke the record for the fewest points and goals scored in a Premiership season, while West Brom and West Ham went with them to the First Division.

Michael Ricketts had the honour of scoring the first goal of the new season for Bolton against Fulham , inside five minutes. The first hat-trick of the season was scored by Michael Owen in the match between Liverpool and Manchester City, at Maine Road in late September.

Wayne Rooney, at the young age of 16, made his breakthrough at Everton, scoring an impressive goal against Arsenal, helping the Toffees to a 2-1 win. However, this was the season when Rooney also got his first Premiership straight red card, for a reckless foul on Birmingham City's Steve Vickers at St. Andrews, which ended Vickers' career.

Final league table

"Last updated May 11, 2003"

PFA Young Player of the Year

The PFA Young Player of the Year award was won by Jermaine Jenas of Newcastle United. [cite web

url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/2981617.stm
title=Hart hails Jenas PFA award
publisher="BBC Sport"
accessdate=2003-04-28 ] Wayne Rooney came as runner-up, and John O'Shea finished third in one of his first full seasons as a United player.

The shortlist for the award was as follows:

West Ham United manager Glenn Roeder was forced to take sick leave in mid-April after being diagnosed with a brain tumour during a Premier League match against Middlesbrough at Upton Park. Former Hammers legend Sir Trevor Brooking took temporary charge for the remaining three matches. Despite Brooking's efforts, the Hammers failed to beat the drop after drawing against Birmingham on the final day of the season. He drew 2-2.

ponsors

Promoted teams

These three teams were promoted from Nationwide Division 1 at the start of the season:
*Manchester City
*West Bromwich Albion
*Birmingham City

Relegated teams

These three teams were relegated from the FA Premier League at the end of the season:
*Sunderland
*West Bromwich Albion
*West Ham United

ee also

*2002-03 in English football
*FA Premier League 2003-04

References

External links

* [http://www.soccerbot.com/fa/tables/ukprem03.htm 2002-03 FA Premier League Review]
* [http://www.4thegame.com/endofsad/ Barclaycard Premiership club-by-club Season Review]