# 2002–03 Southampton F.C. season

The 2002–03 season was Southampton F.C.'s 11th season in the Premier League, and their 25th consecutive season in the top division of English football.

## Season summary

After several seasons of underachievement, Southampton recorded a final placing of 8th, their highest placing in the Premier League. The club also reached the FA Cup final to face an Arsenal side which had narrowly missed out on the Premiership trophy; although Southampton lost by a single goal, as Arsenal had already qualified for the Champions League Southampton qualified for the UEFA Cup the following season.
A slow start to the season saw Southampton languishing in the relegation zone after eight matches played, but a run of eight wins and only two losses from the next fifteen matches saw Southampton rocket up the league table, peaking in fifth place. Unfortunately, the charge for European qualification through the league soon fizzled out as Southampton only won four of their last fifteen matches, dragging them down to eighth place - nonetheless, this was Southampton's highest-ever finish in the Premier League. The low point of this run was a 6–1 loss against a below-strength Arsenal side preparing for the FA Cup final. This did not bode well for the Saints, as they had also managed to reach the final, but as it transpired in the final Arsenal barely edged past Southampton, winning 1–0. Despite the disappointment of not winning the FA Cup, Southampton were rewarded with their cup run with a place in the UEFA Cup, as Arsenal had already qualified for the Champions League.
Key to Southampton's high finish was good home form - Southampton only lost two home games all season, against Manchester United and Liverpool. The good season gave Southampton hope of a more sustained charge at European qualification the next season.

## Premier League

| Date | Opponents | H/A | Result F–A | Scorers | Attendance | League position |
| 17 August 2002 | Middlesbrough | H | 0–0 | | 28,341 | 9th |
| 24 August 2002 | Liverpool | A | 0–3 | | 43,058 | 15th |
| 28 August 2002 | Chelsea | H | 1–1 | Fernandes 51' | 31,208 | 16th |
| 31 August 2002 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 1–2 | Taricco 30' (o.g.) | 35,573 | 18th |
| 11 September 2002 | Everton | H | 1–0 | Pahars 73' (pen.) | 29,190 | 17th |
| 14 September 2002 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–1 | | 26,383 | 17th |
| 21 September 2002 | Charlton Athletic | H | 0–0 | | 25,714 | 18th |
| 28 September 2002 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–1 | Bridge 82' | 22,692 | 18th |
| 5 October 2002 | Manchester City | H | 2–0 | Ormerod 2', 43' | 31,009 | 13th |
| 21 October 2002 | Aston Villa | A | 1–0 | Beattie 48' (pen.) | 25,817 | 12th |
| 27 October 2002 | Fulham | H | 4–2 | Beattie 27' (pen.), 42', 53', Ormerod 72' | 26,188 | 10th |
| 2 November 2002 | Manchester United | A | 1–2 | Fernandes 18' | 67,691 | 10th |
| 9 November 2002 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 1–1 | Beattie 38' (pen.) | 30,059 | 10th |
| 16 November 2002 | Newcastle United | A | 1–2 | Beattie 2' | 51,812 | 11th |
| 23 November 2002 | Arsenal | H | 3–2 | Beattie 45', 59' (pen.), Delgado 67' | 31,797 | 9th |
| 2 December 2002 | West Ham United | A | 1 – 0 | Beattie 90' | 28,844 | 10th |
| 7 December 2002 | Birmingham City | H | 2–0 | Beattie 60' (pen.), 83' | 31,132 | 7th |
| 14 December 2002 | Newcastle United | H | 1–1 | Marsden 52' | 32,061 | 7th |
| 21 December 2002 | Leeds United | A | 1–1 | Fernandes 89' | 36,687 | 7th |
| 26 December 2002 | Chelsea | A | 0–0 | | 39,428 | 9th |
| 28 December 2002 | Sunderland | H | 2–1 | Beattie 73', Tessem 90' | 31,423 | 7th |
| 1 January 2003 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 1 – 0 | Beattie 82' | 31,890 | 6th |
| 11 January 2003 | Middlesbrough | A | 2 – 2 | Beattie 40', 60' | 27,443 | 5th |
| 18 January 2003 | Liverpool | H | 0 – 1 | | 32,104 | 8th |
| 28 January 2003 | Sunderland | A | 1 – 0 | Beattie 50' | 34,102 | 6th |
| 1 February 2003 | Manchester United | H | 0 – 2 | | 32,085 | 7th |
| 8 February 2003 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 0–1 | | 24,896 | 9th |
| 22 February 2003 | Everton | A | 1 – 2 | Beattie 33' | 36,569 | 10th |
| 1 March 2003 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 1–0 | Beattie 8' | 31,915 | 10th |
| 15 March 2003 | Fulham | A | 2 – 2 | Beattie 81', M. Svensson 90' | 18,031 | 9th |
| 22 March 2003 | Aston Villa | H | 2 – 2 | Beattie 40', Kevin Davies 90' | 31,888 | 9th |
| 5 April 2003 | West Ham United | H | 1 – 1 | Beattie 44' | 31,941 | 11th |
| 19 April 2003 | Leeds United | H | 3 – 2 | Ormerod 32', Beattie 45', A. Svensson 53' | 32,032 | 8th |
| 21 April 2003 | Birmingham City | A | 2 – 3 | A. Svensson 26', Ormerod 77' | 29,115 | 9th |
| 26 April 2003 | Charlton Athletic | A | 1–2 | Beattie 90' | 25,894 | 10th |
| 3 May 2003 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 0–0 | | 30,951 | 11th |
| 7 May 2003 | Arsenal | A | 1–6 | Tessem 35' | 38,052 | 11th |
| 11 May 2003 | Manchester City | A | 1–0 | M. Svensson 34' | 34,957 | 8th |
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | H | A | A |
| Result | D | L | D | L | W | L | D | D | W | W | W | L | D | L | W | W | W | D | D | D | W | W | D | L | W | L | L | L | W | D | D | D | W | L | L | D | L | W |
| Position | 9 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 8 |
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 6 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 52 | 43 | +9 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Everton | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 48 | 49 | −1 | 59 | |
| 8 | Southampton | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 43 | 46 | −3 | 52 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 9 | Manchester City | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 47 | 54 | −7 | 51 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 51 | 62 | −11 | 50 | |
* ↑ Since Liverpool qualified for the UEFA Cup via the league, their place in the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners reverted to the league and was awarded to Blackburn Rovers as the highest-placed team not already qualified for European competitions.
* ↑ Since Arsenal qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup as FA Cup winners went to Southampton, who were the FA Cup runners-up.
* ↑ Manchester City qualified as the highest-ranked team not already qualified for European competitions of Premiership Fair Play League by The Football Association, the top association among UEFA Fair Play ranking winners.

## FA Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | H / A | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance |
| 4 January 2003 | Round 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 4 – 0 | M. Svensson 13', Tessem 50', A. Svensson 56', Beattie 80' | 25,589 |
| 25 January 2003 | Round 4 | Millwall | H | 1 – 1 | Davies 90' | 23,809 |
| 5 February 2003 | Round 4 Replay | Millwall | A | 2 – 1 (a.e.t.) | Oakley 21', 102' | 10,197 |
| 15 February 2003 | Round 5 | Norwich City | H | 2 – 0 | A. Svensson 71', Tessem 74' | 31,103 |
| 9 March 2003 | Round 6 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 2 – 0 | Marsden 56', Butler 81' (o.g.) | 31,715 |
| 13 April 2003 | Semi-final | Watford | N | 2 – 1 | Ormerod 43', Robinson 80' (o.g.) | 42,602 |
| 17 May 2003 | Final | Arsenal | N | 0 – 1 | | 73,726 |

## League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | H / A | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance |
| 2 October 2002 | Round 2 | Tranmere Rovers | H | 6 – 1 | Marsden 1', Ormerod 25', 43', 68', Fernandes 52', M. Svensson 66' | 16,603 |
| 6 November 2002 | Round 3 | Liverpool | A | 1 – 3 | Delgado 55' | 35,870 |

## Squad statistics

| No. | Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline |
| No. | Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | | |
| 1 | GK | Paul Jones | 13+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | Jason Dodd | 13+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Wayne Bridge | 34 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | Chris Marsden | 30 | 1 | 6+1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 38+1 | 3 | 11 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Claus Lundekvam | 33 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Paul Williams | 10+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11+2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Andrei Kanchelskis | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Matthew Oakley | 28+3 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | James Beattie | 35+3 | 23 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 44+3 | 24 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | Kevin Davies | 1+8 | 1 | 0+4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1+12 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | Michael Svensson | 33+1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 42+1 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | Anders Svensson | 26+7 | 2 | 6+1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 33+8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | Neil Moss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | GK | Antti Niemi | 25 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | Francis Benali | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | Mark Draper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | Marian Pahars | 5+4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 5+5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 18 | MF | Rory Delap | 22+2 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 26+4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | Danny Higginbotham | 3+6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | Marcus Hall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | David Prutton | 9+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Tahar El Khalej | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | FW | Jo Tessem | 9+18 | 2 | 2+5 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 11+24 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | Federico Arias | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | Arron Davies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | Garry Monk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | Imants Bleidelis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | GK | Scott Bevan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | GK | Alan Blayney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | Fabrice Fernandes | 35+2 | 3 | 5+2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 41+4 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | Scott McDonald | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | Chris Baird | 1+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | Paul Telfer | 26+6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33+6 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | Agustín Delgado | 2+4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3+4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | MF | Cléber Chalá | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | Brett Ormerod | 22+9 | 5 | 5+2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 28+11 | 9 | 4 | 0 |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Pos. | Name | From | Fee |
| 27 August 2002 | GK | Antti Niemi | Heart of Midlothian | £2m |
| 31 August 2002 | DF | Marcus Hall | Nottingham Forest | Free |
| 31 August 2002 | MF | Andrei Kanchelskis | Rangers | Free |
| 31 January 2003 | DF | Danny Higginbotham | Derby County | £1.5m |
| 31 January 2003 | MF | David Prutton | Nottingham Forest | £2.5m |
| 12 May 2003 | DF | Darren Kenton | Norwich City | Free |
| 12 May 2003 | FW | Dexter Blackstock | Oxford United | Undisclosed |

### Out

| Date | Pos. | Name | To | Fee |
| 2 July 2002 | FW | Dani Rodrigues | Walsall | Free |
| 2 July 2002 | DF | Dan Petrescu | Unattached | Released |
| 10 December 2002 | DF | Marcus Hall | Stoke City | Free |
| 10 January 2003 | MF | Cléber Chalá | Unattached | Released |
| 25 January 2003 | MF | Tahar El Khalej | Charlton Athletic | Released |
| 31 January 2003 | MF | Imants Bleidelis | Viborg | Free |
| 5 February 2003 | GK | Neil Moss | Bournemouth | Free |
| 7 February 2003 | MF | Andrei Kanchelskis | Al-Hilal | Free |
| 22 May 2003 | MF | Matt Crowell | Wrexham | Free |
| 31 May 2003 | FW | Scott McDonald | Unattached | Released |

### Loan in

| Date from | Date to | Pos. | Name | Moving from |
| 8 January 2003 | 23 May 2003 | MF | Federico Arias | Vélez Sársfield |

### Loan out

| Date from | Date to | Pos. | Name | Moving to |
| 3 July 2002 | 29 October 2002 | FW | Scott McDonald | Huddersfield Town |
| 10 July 2002 | 1 June 2003 | FW | Jacinto Ela | Hércules |
| 10 July 2002 | 4 April 2003 | GK | Scott Bevan | Huddersfield Town |
| 13 September 2002 | 24 December 2002 | GK | Neil Moss | Bournemouth |
| 13 September 2002 | 11 November 2002 | FW | Kevin Davies | Millwall |
| 28 October 2002 | 28 January 2003 | GK | Alan Blayney | Stockport County |
| 13 December 2002 | 19 March 2003 | DF | Garry Monk | Sheffield Wednesday |
| 25 December 2002 | 25 January 2003 | GK | Alan Blayney | Bournemouth |
| 27 March 2003 | 19 August 2003 | FW | Scott McDonald | Bournemouth |