Premier League 2008–09

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This article documents a current football season. Information may change as the event progresses.

The 2008–09 Premier League season (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the seventeenth since its establishment in 1992. Manchester United are the defending champions, having won their tenth Premier League title on the final day of the previous season. The campaign – the fixtures for which were announced on 16 June 2008 – began on Saturday 16 August 2008,^[1] and is scheduled to end on 24 May 2009. A total of 20 teams contest the league, including 17 who competed the previous season and three promoted from the Football League Championship.

Starting with this season, clubs are now allowed to name seven substitutes on the bench instead of five.^[2] This season is also different in that there will be no New Year's Day game, as is usually traditional. This is because the FA Cup Third Round is traditionally played on the first Saturday in January, which in 2009 will fall in the usual spot for New Year's league games.^[3]

The first goal of the season was scored by Arsenal's Samir Nasri against newly promoted West Bromwich Albion in the fourth minute of the early kick-off game on the opening day of the season on 16 August.^[4] Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa scored the first hat-trick of the season against Manchester City, netting three goals in the space of seven minutes.^[5]

Contents 1 Promotion and relegation 2 League table 3 Results 4 Season statistics 4.1 Scoring 4.2 Discipline 4.3 Miscellaneous 5 Top scorers 6 Monthly awards 7 Kits 8 Stadia 9 Managerial changes 10 See also 11 References

[edit] Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from Football League Championship 2007-08

• Champions: West Bromwich Albion
• Runners-up: Stoke City
• Play-offs: Hull City

Teams relegated to Football League Championship 2008–09

• Reading
• Birmingham City
• Derby County

[edit] League table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool	20	13	6	1	35	13	+22	45	UEFA Champions League 2009–10 Group stage
2	Chelsea	20	12	6	2	40	9	+31	42
3	Manchester United	18	11	5	2	29	10	+19	38
4	Aston Villa	20	11	5	4	33	22	+11	38	UEFA Champions League 2009-10 Play-off round for non-champions
5	Arsenal	20	10	5	5	33	23	+10	35	UEFA Europa League 2009–10 Play-off round
6	Everton	20	9	5	6	27	25	+2	32
7	Wigan Athletic	19	8	4	7	24	21	+3	28
8	Hull City	20	7	6	7	28	37	−9	27
9	Fulham	19	6	8	5	18	14	+4	26
10	West Ham United	20	7	4	9	24	28	−4	25
11	Bolton Wanderers	20	7	2	11	22	28	−6	23
12	Portsmouth	20	6	5	9	21	33	−12	23
13	Manchester City	20	6	4	10	38	30	+8	22
14	Newcastle United	20	5	7	8	26	32	−6	22
15	Sunderland	20	6	4	10	21	29	−8	22
16	Tottenham Hotspur	20	5	5	10	20	25	−5	20
17	Middlesbrough	20	5	5	10	17	29	−12	20
18	Stoke City	20	5	5	10	18	33	−15	20	Relegation to Football League Championship
19	Blackburn Rovers	20	4	6	10	22	36	−14	18
20	West Bromwich Albion	20	5	3	12	16	35	−19	18

Last updated: 30 December 2008
Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1^st points; 2^nd goal difference; 3^rd goals scored.
More about European qualification:
a. The 6th place will qualify to the UEFA Europa League fourth qualifying round if the League Cup winners or the FA Cup winners end 5th or higher;
b. The 7th place will qualify to the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round if the League Cup winners and the FA Cup winners end 6th or higher;
c. A further place in the UEFA Europa League is available via the Fair Play initiative. If the Premiership has the highest Fair Play ranking in Europe, then the highest ranked team in the Premiership Fair Play standings not already qualified for Europe will automatically qualify for the UEFA Europa League First Qualifying Round. If the Premiership has an average Fair Play score of 8 or greater, but does not have the highest Fair Play ranking in Europe, then it will be placed in a drawing with the other leagues with an average Fair Play score of 8 or greater, and 2 leagues will be selected at random, with the highest rank ranked teams from those leagues' Fair PLay standings not already qualified for Europe receiving the last two spots in the UEFA Europa League First Qualifying Round.
For further information on European qualification see Premier League - Competition.
P = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points; (C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted.

[edit] Results

Home \ Away1

ARS

AST

BLA

BOL

CHE

EVE

FUL

HUL

LIV

MNC

MNU

MID

NEW

POR

STK

SUN

TOT

WBA

WHU

WIG

Arsenal

0–2

a

3–1

1–2

1–1

2–1

3–0

1–0

4–4

1–0

1–0

Aston Villa

2–2

3–2

4–2

0–0

0–0

4–2

0–0

1–2

0–0

2–1

Blackburn Rovers

0–4

0–2

1–0

1–1

1–3

2–2

0–2

1–1

3–0

1–2

Bolton Wanderers

1–3

0–0

0–2

0–1

0–2

2–0

2–1

3–1

0–0

0–1

Chelsea

1–2

2–0

a

0–1

1–1

0–0

4–0

5–0

1–1

2–0

1–1

Everton

2–3

2–3

0–0

1–0

0–2

1–1

1–1

2–2

0–3

3–0

Fulham

1–0

2–1

2–2

1–1

3–0

2–1

0–0

2–1

1–2

2–0

Hull City

0–1

0–1

0–3

2–2

2–1

2–2

2–1

1–4

1–0

0–5

Liverpool

3–0

a

0–0

2–2

2–1

2–1

1–0

0–0

3–0

0–0

3–2

Manchester City

3–0

1–3

0–1

5–1

2–3

0–1

6–0

3–0

1–2

3–0

Manchester United

2–0

4–3

a

a

1–0

1–1

5–0

1–0

4–0

2–0

Middlesbrough

1–1

1–3

0–5

0–1

2–0

0–0

2–1

a

2–1

0–1

1–1

Newcastle United

2–0

1–2

1–0

1–2

1–5

2–2

a

2–2

a

2–1

2–1

2–2

Portsmouth

3–2

1–1

2–2

0–1

2–1

0–3

2–1

2–0

1–4

1–2

Stoke City

2–1

3–2

0–2

2–3

0–0

1–1

0–1

1–0

2–1

1–0

Sunderland

1–1

0–0

1–4

0–1

0–3

2–0

2–1

1–2

4–0

0–1

Tottenham Hotspur

a

1–2

1–0

2–0

0–1

0–0

0–1

2–1

0–0

1–2

0–0

West Bromwich Albion

1–2

2–2

0–3

1–2

1–0

0–3

2–1

1–1

2–0

3–2

West Ham United

0–2

0–1

4–1

1–3

1–3

3–1

0–0

2–1

0–2

2–1

Wigan Athletic

0–4

3–0

0–1

1–0

2–1

0–1

2–1

0–0

1–1

2–1

Last updated: 30 December 2008
Source: Barclays Premier League
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; White = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

[edit] Season statistics

[edit] Scoring

• First goal of the season: Samir Nasri for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion, 4th minute (16 August 2008)^[4]
• Fastest goal in a match: 31 seconds – Steve Sidwell for Aston Villa against Everton (7 December 2008)^[6]
• Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+5 minutes
  • Carlton Cole for West Ham United against Blackburn Rovers (30 August 2008)^[7]
  • Gary O'Neil for Middlesbrough against Manchester City (29 October 2008)^[8]
  • Steven Gerrard for Liverpool against Blackburn Rovers (6 December 2008)
• Widest winning margin: 6 goals – Manchester City 6–0 Portsmouth (21 September 2008)^[9]
• Most goals in a match: 8 goals – Arsenal 4–4 Tottenham Hotspur (29 October 2008)^[10]
• Most goals in one half: 6 goals – Arsenal 4–4 Tottenham Hotspur (29 October 2008)^[10]

• First own goal of the season: Robert Huth (Middlesbrough) for Tottenham Hotspur, 90+2 minutes (16 August 2008)^[11]
• First hat trick of the season: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) against Manchester City (17 August 2008)^[12]
• Fastest hat trick of the season: 7 minutes, 37 seconds – Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) against Manchester City (17 August 2008)^[12]

[edit] Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Sam Ricketts for Hull City against Fulham, 29th minute (16 August 2008)^[13]
• First red card of the season: Mark Noble for West Ham United against Manchester City, 38th minute (24 August 2008)^[14]
• Most yellow cards in a single match: 8
  • Chelsea 1–1 Manchester United – 1 for Chelsea (Mikel John Obi) and 7 for Manchester United (Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra & Cristiano Ronaldo) (21 September 2008)^[15]
  • Sunderland 1–1 Arsenal – 3 for Sunderland (Dean Whitehead, Kieran Richardson & Dwight Yorke) and 5 for Arsenal (Gaël Clichy, Kolo Touré, Alexandre Song, Nicklas Bendtner & Emmanuel Adebayor) (4 October 2008)^[16]
  • Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal - 4 for Aston Villa (Gabriel Agbonlahor, Nigel Reo-Coker, Stiliyan Petrov & Gareth Barry) and 4 for Arsenal (Alexandre Song, Kolo Touré, Abou Diaby & Robin van Persie) (26 December 2008)
• Most red cards in a single match: 3 – Manchester City 1–2 Tottenham Hotspur – 2 for Manchester City (Richard Dunne & Gelson Fernandes) and 1 for Tottenham (Benoît Assou-Ekotto) (9 November 2008)^[17]
• Card given at latest point in a game: Michael Dawson (red) at 90+9' for Tottenham Hotspur against Stoke City (19 October 2008)^[18]

[edit] Miscellaneous

• Longest injury time: 11 minutes, 2 seconds – Stoke City against Tottenham Hotspur (19 October 2008)^[18]

[edit] Top scorers

Scorer	Club	Goals[19]
Nicolas Anelka	Chelsea	14
Robinho	Manchester City	11
Amr Zaki	Wigan Athletic	10
Gabriel Agbonlahor	Aston Villa	9
Djibril Cissé	Sunderland	8
Peter Crouch	Portsmouth
Steven Gerrard	Liverpool
Frank Lampard	Chelsea
Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United
Robin van Persie	Arsenal

[edit] Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August[20]	Gareth Southgate	Middlesbrough	Deco	Chelsea
September	Phil Brown[21]	Hull City	Ashley Young[22]	Aston Villa
October[23]	Rafael Benítez	Liverpool	Frank Lampard	Chelsea
November[24]	Gary Megson	Bolton Wanderers	Nicolas Anelka	Chelsea

[edit] Kits

Club	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsor	Notes
Arsenal	Nike	Fly Emirates	New home kit, red with a thick white stripe on both sides of the shirt, rather than the traditional all-white sleeves.[25] New away kit, yellow with navy,[26]and last season's away kit becomes the third kit.
Aston Villa	Nike	Acorns Children's Hospice	Acorns Children's Hospice replaces 32Red as kit sponsor, as Aston Villa forgoes sponsorship payments.[27] New home kit, claret with blue. New away kit, blue with black.
Blackburn Rovers	Umbro	Crown Paints	Crown Paints replaces Bet 24 as kit sponsor.[28][29] New away kit, navy with blue and white stripes, and last season's away kit becomes the third kit.
Bolton Wanderers	Reebok	Reebok	New home kit, white with navy, reverts to the traditional navy short. New away kit, gold with slate.
Chelsea	adidas	Samsung	Samsung remain as the kit sponsors without the mobile division. New home kit, blue with white and yellow. New away kit, black with white. New third kit, yellow with blue.
Everton	Umbro	Chang	New home kit, blue with white. New away kit, white with navy and silver. New third kit, fluorescent yellow with navy.[30]
Fulham	Nike	LG	New home kit, white with black.[31] Away Shirt red and black halves. 3rd shirt all bright yellow with black trim.
Hull City	Umbro	Karoo (H) / Kingston Communications (A)	New home kit reverts to the traditional amber and black stripes.[32] New away kit, flint with amber.
Liverpool	adidas	Carlsberg	New home kit, red with white. New away kit, grey with red. New third kit, green with white and black.
Manchester City	le coq sportif	Thomas Cook	New home kit, light blue with white and navy. New away kit, black and red stripes.[33] New third kit, fluorescent orange with black and navy.[34]
Manchester United	Nike	AIG	New away kit, white with blue and red.[35] New third kit, blue with white, commemorates the 40th anniversary of the club's first European Cup title.[36][37]
Middlesbrough	Erreà	Garmin	New home kit reverts to the traditional red with a white chestband. New away kit, blue and black stripes.[38]
Newcastle United	adidas	Northern Rock	New away kit, purple with white. New third kit, silver with white.
Portsmouth	Canterbury	Oki	New club crest.[39] New home kit, blue with gold, commemorates the club's 110th anniversary.
Stoke City	le coq sportif	Britannia Building Society	New home kit, red and white stripes.[40] New away kit, yellow with blue.[41]
Sunderland	Umbro	Boylesports	New home kit, red and white stripes, reverts to the traditional red sock.[42] New away kit, black and blue stripes,[43] and last season's away kit becomes the third kit.
Tottenham Hotspur	Puma	Mansion.com Casino & Poker	New home kit, white with navy, reverts to the traditional navy short. New away kit, light blue with navy. New third kit, black with gold.
West Bromwich Albion	Umbro		New home kit, navy and white stripes. New away kit, bright yellow with navy shorts.
West Ham United	Umbro	XL.com Holidays / SBOBET	XL.com Holidays began the season as kit sponsor, but collapsed.[44] SBOBET replaces XL.com Holidays as kit sponsor.[45] New home kit, claret with blue.[46] New away kit, light blue with claret and white, and last season's away kit becomes the third kit.[47]
Wigan Athletic	Champion	JJB Sports	New club crest.[48][49] Champion replaces Umbro as kit manufacturer. New away kit, fluorescent yellow with black.[1]

Also, Nike provided new match balls, white with red and yellow (autumn/spring) and yellow with purple and black (winter), based on their T90 Laser II Omni model.

[edit] Stadia

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Manchester United	Old Trafford	76,212
Arsenal	Emirates Stadium	60,355
Newcastle United	St James' Park	52,387
Sunderland	Stadium of Light	48,707
Manchester City	City of Manchester Stadium	47,726
Liverpool	Anfield	45,522
Aston Villa	Villa Park	42,640
Chelsea	Stamford Bridge	42,055
Everton	Goodison Park	40,569
Tottenham Hotspur	White Hart Lane	36,240
West Ham United	Upton Park	35,303
Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	35,049
Blackburn Rovers	Ewood Park	31,367
Fulham	Craven Cottage	30,500
Bolton Wanderers	Reebok Stadium	28,723
Stoke City	Britannia Stadium	28,383
West Bromwich Albion	The Hawthorns	28,003
Hull City	KC Stadium	25,404
Wigan Athletic	JJB Stadium	25,138
Portsmouth	Fratton Park	20,688

[edit] Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Chelsea	Avram Grant	Sacked	24 May 2008[50]	Luiz Felipe Scolari	1 July 2008[51]	Pre-season
West Ham United	Alan Curbishley	Resigned	3 September 2008[52]	Gianfranco Zola	11 September 2008[53]	5th
Newcastle United	Kevin Keegan	Resigned	4 September 2008[54]	Joe Kinnear	26 September 2008[55]	11th
Tottenham Hotspur	Juande Ramos	Sacked	25 October 2008[56]	Harry Redknapp	26 October 2008[56]	20th
Portsmouth	Harry Redknapp	Tottenham purchased rights for £5 million	26 October 2008[56]	Tony Adams	28 October 2008[57]	7th
Sunderland	Roy Keane	Resigned	4 December 2008[58]	Ricky Sbragia	27 December 2008[59]	18th
Blackburn Rovers	Paul Ince	Sacked	16 December 2008[60]	Sam Allardyce	17 December 2008[61]	19th

[edit] See also

Wikinews has related news: 2008-09 FA Premier League season

• The Football League 2008–09

[edit] References