By 2001–02, Pires had fully got to grips with the English game and had one of his best seasons. Pires scored superb goals against Middlesbrough and Aston Villa. Against Aston Villa, Pires chased after a long ball by Freddie Ljungberg, and lobbed the ball over the pursuing George Boateng, and finished off the move with a delightful lob over Peter Schmeichel. Pires also scored in a 1–1 draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, which would commence a sequence of five consecutive league seasons in which he would score in the North London Derby away at their rivals. He led the Premier League assist charts and was voted both FWA Footballer of the Year and Arsenal's player of the season, as Arsenal won the league title. Pires provided the assist for Dennis Bergkamp when he scored his memorable pirouette goal against Newcastle United. However weeks later against the same opposition in the FA Cup Pires suffered a cruciate ligament injury (a game in which he had earlier scored). This also ruled him out of playing in the 2002 FA Cup Final and the 2002 World Cup with France.