 Arsenal had finished the previous season as runners-up in the Premier League, overhauled by Manchester United in the final ten weeks of the season. The club did, however, retain the FA Cup, with a 1 – 0 win against Southampton. Such was Arsenal's effective start to the 2002 – 03 campaign, manager Arsène Wenger suggested his team could remain the whole season undefeated in all competitions: "It's not impossible as AC Milan once did it but I can 't see why it's so shocking to say it. Do you think Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea don 't dream that as well? They're exactly the same. They just don 't say it because they're scared to look ridiculous, but nobody is ridiculous in this job as we know anything can happen." The team lost to Everton a month after Wenger's proclamation; teenager Wayne Rooney scored the match winner, which ended a run of 30 league games without defeat. By February 2003, Arsenal moved five points clear of Manchester United at the top of the league table, but injuries to key players, not least captain Patrick Vieira, had destabilised the team. Draws in April, coupled with a defeat to Leeds United at home, mathematically ended Arsenal's chances of retaining the title. Wenger refuted opinions from the media that their season was a failure and said:
