Premier League 2012-13

The 2012–13 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the 21st season of the Premier League, the English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. The fixture schedule was released on 18 June 2012. The season began on 18 August 2012 and will end on 19 May 2013.
Manchester City are the defending champions, having won their first Premier League title the previous season. This was their first top division league title since the 1967–68 season.
==Teams==
A total of 20 teams will contest the league, including 17 sides from the 2011–12 season and three promoted from the 2011–12 Football League Championship.
Relegation for Wolverhampton Wanderers to the 2012–13 Football League Championship was confirmed on 22 April 2012, ending a three-season Premier League tenure. Blackburn Rovers were relegated after a 1–0 defeat against Wigan Athletic on 7 May 2012, ending an eleven-season tenure in top-flight football. The final team to be relegated from the 2011–12 Premier League was Bolton Wanderers on 13 May 2012, the final day of the season, also after eleven seasons in the top flight. For only the second time in the history of the Premier League, all three sides who were promoted from the 2010–11 Football League Championship survived and will compete in this season.
Reading (as Champions) and Southampton (as runners-up) secured direct promotion to the Premier League from the 2011–12 Football League Championship. Reading will return to the Premier League after an absence of four years, while Southampton make a comeback to the highest tier after making two successive promotions and seven seasons in the leagues below. The third promoted team was decided in a four-team play-off between the Championship teams ranked third through to sixth. Ultimately, third-placed West Ham United defeated fifth-placed Blackpool in the Play-Off Final at Wembley Stadium on 19 May 2012. West Ham returned to the Premier League after only one season of absence.
===Stadia and locations===
:Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
Team 	Stadium 	Capacity
Arsenal 	Emirates Stadium 	
Aston Villa 	Villa Park 	
Chelsea 	Stamford Bridge 	
Everton 	Goodison Park 	
Fulham 	Craven Cottage 	
Liverpool 	Anfield 	
Manchester City 	Etihad Stadium 	
Manchester United 	Old Trafford 	
Newcastle United 	St James' Park 	
Norwich City 	Carrow Road 	
Queens Park Rangers 	Loftus Road 	
Reading 	Madejski Stadium 	
Southampton 	St Mary's Stadium	
Stoke City 	Britannia Stadium	
Sunderland 	Stadium of Light 	
Swansea City 	Liberty Stadium 	
Tottenham Hotspur 	White Hart Lane 	
West Bromwich Albion	The Hawthorns 	
West Ham United 	Boleyn Ground 	
Wigan Athletic 	DW Stadium 	
===Personnel and kits===
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Team 	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal 	 	 	Nike 	Emirates
Aston Villa 	 	2 	Macron 	Genting Casinos
Chelsea 	 	 	Adidas 	Samsung
Everton 	 	 	Nike 	Chang Beer
Fulham 	 	 	Kappa 	FxPro
Liverpool 	 	 	Warrior Sports 	Standard Chartered
Manchester City 	 	 	Umbro 	Etihad Airways
Manchester United 	 	 	Nike 	Aon
Newcastle United 	 	 	Puma 	Virgin Money
Norwich City 	 	 	Erreà 	Aviva
Queens Park Rangers 	 	 	Lotto 	AirAsia
Reading 	 	 	Puma 	Waitrose
Southampton 	 	 	Umbro 	aap3
Stoke City 	 	 	Adidas 	Bet365
Sunderland 	 	 	Adidas 	Invest In Africa
Swansea City 	 	 	Adidas 	32Red
Tottenham Hotspur 	 	 	Under Armour 	Autonomy
West Bromwich Albion	 	 	Adidas 	Zoopla
West Ham United 	 	 	Macron 	SBOBET
Wigan Athletic 	 	 	MiFit 	12BET
* 1 According to current revision of List of English Football League managers
* 2 Stiliyan Petrov is Aston Villa's club captain, but Vlaar has been appointed team captain for the season whilst Petrov recovers from leukaemia.
* Additionally, referee kits are now being sponsored by Expedia.com, and Nike has a new match ball, the Maxim Premier League.
===Managerial changes===
Team 	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure 	Date of vacancy 	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
West Bromwich Albion	 	Signed by England 	13 May 2012 	Pre-season 	 	8 June 2012
Aston Villa 	 	Sacked 	14 May 2012 	Pre-season 	 	2 June 2012
Liverpool 	 	Sacked 	16 May 2012 	Pre-season 	 	1 June 2012
Swansea City 	 	Signed by Liverpool 	1 June 2012 	Pre-season 	 	15 June 2012
Norwich City 	 	Signed by Aston Villa	2 June 2012 	Pre-season 	 	7 June 2012
Tottenham Hotspur 	 	Sacked 	13 June 2012 	Pre-season 	 	3 July 2012
Chelsea 	 	Sacked 	21 November 2012	3rd 	 	21 November 2012
Queens Park Rangers 	 	Sacked 	23 November 2012	20th 	Harry Redknapp 	24 November 2012
==League table==
|- style="background:#fcc;"
|rowspan="2"|18
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;"|Wigan Athletic (R)
|rowspan="2"|38
|rowspan="2"|9
|rowspan="2"|9
|rowspan="2"|20
|rowspan="2"|47
|rowspan="2"|73
|rowspan="2"|–26
|rowspan="2"|36
| style="text-align:center; font-size:92.5%; background:#97deff;"|2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage 2
|-
| style="text-align:center; font-size:92.5%; background:#fcc;"|
Premier League 2012-13 Winners
Manchester United
==Results==
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==Season statistics==
===Top scorers===
Rank	Player 	Club 	Goals
1 	Robin Van Persie 	Manchester United 	26
2 	Luis Suárez 	Liverpool 	23
3 	Gareth Bale 	Tottenham Hotspur 	21
4 	Christian Benteke	Aston Villa 	19
5 	Michu 	Swansea City 	18
6 	Romelu Lukaku 	West Bromwich Albion 	17
7 	Demba Ba 	Chelsea / Newcastle United	15
7 	Dimitar Berbatov 	Fulham 	15
7 	Rickie Lambert 	Southampton 	15
7 	Frank Lampard 	Chelsea 	15
===Hat-tricks===
Player	For 	Against 	Result	Date
 	Manchester United 	Southampton 	3–2 	
 	Liverpool 	Norwich City 	5–2 	
 	Wigan Athletic 	Reading 	3–2 	
 	Arsenal 	Reading 	5–2 	
 	Tottenham Hotspur 	Aston Villa 	4–0 	
 	Arsenal 	Newcastle United 	7–3 	
 	Manchester United 	Norwich City 	4–0 	
 	Liverpool 	Wigan Athletic 	4–0 	
 	Manchester United 	Aston Villa 	3–0 	
 	Aston Villa 	Sunderland 	6–1 	
 	Liverpool 	Fulham 	3–1 	
 	West Ham United 	Reading 	4–2 	
 	West Bromwich Albion	Manchester United	5–5 	
==Awards==
===Monthly awards===
Month 	Manager of the Month	Manager of the Month	Player of the Month	Player of the Month
Month 	Manager 	Club 	Player 	Club
September	David Moyes 	Everton 	Steven Fletcher 	Sunderland
October 	Sir Alex Ferguson 	Manchester United 	Juan Mata 	Chelsea
November 	Steve Clarke 	West Bromwich Albion	Marouane Fellaini 	Everton
December 	André Villas-Boas 	Tottenham Hotspur 	Robin van Persie 	Manchester United
January 	Brian McDermott 	Reading 	Adam le Fondre 	Reading
February 	André Villas-Boas 	Tottenham Hotspur 	Gareth Bale 	Tottenham Hotspur
March 	David Moyes 	Everton 	Jan Vertonghen 	Tottenham Hotspur
April 	Rafael Benítez 	Chelsea 	Robin van Persie 	Manchester United
==External links==
Category:2012–13 domestic association football leagues
2012–13
Category:2012–13 in English football