Premier League 2003-04

The 2003–04 FA Premier League season was the twelfth season of the Premier League. In the end, Arsenal went through the season without a single defeat – the first team ever to do so in a 38 game league season and the second team overall (the first was Preston North End in 1889, 115 years earlier, during a 22 game league season) and were crowned champions once more, at the expense of Chelsea, who had spent heavily throughout the season.
Chelsea had been bolstered by a £100 million outlay on world-class players, a spree funded by the extensive financial resources of their new owner Roman Abramovich. Manchester United's attack was as strong as ever thanks to free-scoring Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the midfield was weakened following the pre-season £25 million sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid, and the centre of defence suffered a more severe setback after Rio Ferdinand was ruled out for the final four months of the season after being found guilty of the "failure or refusal to take a drugs test". The case of Rio Ferdinand started a debate about punishments relating to drug testing in football, with there being differing views on whether the punishment was too harsh or too lenient. Ferdinand's club sought to make direct comparisons with an earlier case of Manchester City reserve player who had in fact committed a lesser drug testing offence and as a result escaped with only a fine.
Arsenal, meanwhile, had only signed German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 2003 close season, but French striker Thierry Henry was instrumental in Arsenal's success. Away from the Premiership, Arsène Wenger's team suffered disappointment in the cup competitions. They lost their defence of the FA Cup (which they held for two seasons in a row) after losing to eventual winners Manchester United in the semi-final. Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Chelsea (3–2 on agg). These two blows came with a few days of each other and it was feared that Arsenal might squander their lead of the Premiership for the second successive season, but Arsenal thumped Liverpool only days later. Arsenal's Invincibles finished the season with 26 wins, 12 draws, 0 defeats and 90 points.
==Promotion and relegation==
===Start of season===
Teams promoted from the First Division 2002-03
* Portsmouth (Champions)
* Leicester City (Runners-up)
* Wolverhampton Wanderers (Playoff winners)
===End of season===
Teams relegated to The Championship 2004-05
* Leicester City
* Leeds United
* Wolverhampton Wanderers
==Final league table==
Pos	Club	P 	W 	D 	L 	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Comments
1 	 	38	26	12	0 	73	26	47 	90 	Champions League Group stage
2 	 	38	24	7 	7 	67	30	37 	79 	Champions League Group stage
3 	 	38	23	6 	9 	64	35	29 	75 	Champions League Third qualifying round
4 	 	38	16	12	10	55	37	18 	60 	Champions League Third qualifying round
5 	 	38	13	17	8 	52	40	12 	56 	UEFA Cup First round
6 	 	38	15	11	12	48	44	4 	56 	
7 	 	38	14	11	13	51	51	0 	53 	
8 	 	38	14	11	13	48	56	-8 	53 	
9 	 	38	14	10	14	52	46	6 	52 	
10 	 	38	12	14	12	43	48	-5 	50 	
11 	 	38	13	9 	16	44	52	-8 	48 	UEFA Cup First round
12 	 	38	12	11	15	44	45	-1 	47 	
13 	 	38	12	9 	17	47	54	-7 	45 	
14 	 	38	13	6 	19	47	57	-10	45 	
15 	 	38	12	8 	18	51	59	-8 	44 	
16 	 	38	9 	14	15	55	54	1 	41 	
17 	 	38	9 	12	17	45	57	-12	39 	
18 	 	38	6 	15	17	48	65	-17	33 	Relegated to The Championship
19 	 	38	8 	9 	21	40	79	-39	33 	Relegated to The Championship
20 	 	38	7 	12	19	38	77	-39	33 	Relegated to The Championship
Premier League 2003-04 Winners
Arsenal3rd Premier League title
==Top goalscorers==
Scorer 	Goals	Team
Thierry Henry 	30 	Arsenal
Alan Shearer 	22 	Newcastle United
Louis Saha 	20 	Manchester United/Fulham
Ruud van Nistelrooy	20 	Manchester United
Mikael Forssell 	17 	Birmingham City
Nicolas Anelka 	16 	Manchester City
Juan Pablo Angel 	16 	Aston Villa
Michael Owen 	16 	Liverpool
Yakubu Aiyegbeni 	16 	Portsmouth
==External links==
* 2001-02 Premier League Season at RSSSF
2003-04