2004–05 FA Premier League

League table

Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
^1. Though they failed to qualify for the Champions League as one of the top four English clubs at the end of the season, Liverpool were given a special dispensation to compete as they were defending champions of the European competition. They were, however, forced to enter in the first qualifying round. See Liverpool F.C. 2005–06 UEFA Champions League qualification
^2. Since the finalists of the 2004–05 FA Cup, Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as Chelsea, who won the 2004–05 Football League Cup, were confirmed to qualify for the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League, and the fifth-placed team (Liverpool) were moved to the Champions League, the sixth and seventh-placed teams in the Premier League were rewarded with entry to the 2005–06 UEFA Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Source: Barclays Premier League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Season preview

Arsenal were the favourites to defend their title after finishing the previous season unbeaten, but they also faced competition in the form of regular challengers Manchester United and Chelsea, the latter under the new management of Portuguese José Mourinho, who had just won the Champions League with Porto. Liverpool also had a new manager in Spaniard Rafael Benítez, who had just won La Liga and the UEFA Cup with Valencia and were expected to challenge for the title too. Another managerial change at a club aiming for the top was at Tottenham Hotspur, who appointed Jacques Santini, who had just led France to the quarter-finals of the 2004 European Championship.

At the other end of the table, amongst those tipped for relegation were Norwich City, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion, having all just been promoted from the First Division (which was rebranded this season as the Championship). Everton, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth were also tipped to struggle, the first three finishing just outside the relegation places the previous season and Portsmouth being in their second season.

The relegation dog fight

For the first time since the advent of the Premier League in 1992, no team was mathematically relegated before the final day of the season. In each of the last three weekends of the season, the team that was bottom of the table at the start of the weekend finished it outside the drop zone. The final round of the season started on 15 May with West Bromwich Albion at the bottom, Southampton and Crystal Palace one point ahead and Norwich City a further point ahead, in the last safe spot.

West Brom, who had been bottom of the table and eight points from safety on Christmas Day, did their part by defeating Portsmouth at home 2–0. Norwich, the only side to have their fate completely in their own hands, lost 6–0 at Fulham and went down. Southampton lost 2–1 at home to Manchester United and were relegated after 27 years in the top flight. Palace, away to Charlton Athletic, were leading 2–1 after 71 minutes, but with eight minutes to go, Charlton's Jonathan Fortune equalised to relegate Palace. Thus, West Brom stayed up, becoming the first club in Premier League history to avoid relegation after being bottom of the table at Christmas.

At the end of the 90 minutes in all four matches, cameras focused on West Brom's home ground, The Hawthorns, as confirmation of other results began to filter through. Once the realisation dawned on the players and fans that survival had been achieved, a mass pitch invasion was sparked, with huge celebrations. The Portsmouth fans joined in the celebrations as, through losing, they had "helped" relegate arch-rivals Southampton. The defeat itself mattered little to Portsmouth, as they would be unable to improve on their final position of 16th due to 15th-placed Blackburn Rovers' greater points tally.

Managerial changes

PFA Player's Player of the Year

The PFA Player's Player of the year award was won by Chelsea captain John Terry.

PFA Young Player of the Year

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney was the recipient for this award.

PFA Fan's Player of the Year

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard won this award for the first time.

PFA Team of the year

Goalkeeper – Petr Čech
Defenders – Gary Neville, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole
Midfielders – Shaun Wright-Phillips, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Arjen Robben
Strikers – Thierry Henry, Andy Johnson

FWA Footballer of the Year

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard won this award.

Barclays Player of the season

Chelsea's midfielder Frank Lampard won the award.

Barclays Golden Boot

Arsenal and French striker Thierry Henry won the award for the third time in his career with an impressive 25 goals.

Barclays Golden Glove

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech won the Golden Glove, for 24 clean sheets, in his debut season as he set a remarkable record of 10 consecutive clean sheets, as Chelsea won the title.

Barclays Manager of the season

José Mourinho was awarded the manager of the season award after he led Chelsea to their first Premier League title, second Top division title in their history. During his first season at the club, Chelsea won the Premier League title (their first league title in 50 years) and the League Cup. The season was also notable for the number of records set during the season: Fewest goals against in a Premier League season (15), most clean sheets kept in a season (25), most wins in a season (29), most consecutive away wins (9) and the most points in a season (95).

Barclays Premier League Fair Play Award

The Fair Play Award is merit given to the team who has been the most sporting and best behaved team. Arsenal won the award for the second year in a row, ahead of Tottenham. The least sporting side for 2004–05 was Blackburn Rovers, who achieved a significantly lower fair play score than any other side.