The Story of a Premiership Season

October 2003

Celebrations at the foot of the table as both Wolves and Leeds register first wins of the season, against Manchester City and Blackburn but poor old Leicester lose again, at Fulham.
Arsenal win at Anfield putting Liverpool already nine points adrift of the top spot. Manchester United also win, against Birmingham. Chelsea make it five wins out of six, at ’Boro, to complete the leading group of three.

Claudio Ranieri, amidst more speculation that he is to be replaced by Sven Goran Eriksson, hits his first bad patch of the season as Chelsea follow up a goalless draw, against Birmingham, with their first defeat of the campaign, against Arsenal. Henry’s 75th minute ‘tap-in’ winner follows a Cudicini ‘howler’. The leaders stay just ahead of United, winners at Leeds, thanks to a rare headed goal by Roy Keane. Chelsea drop three points behind The Gunners, into third place.
Manchester City’s crushing defeat of Bolton is the team’s highest Premier League win under Kevin Keegan.

Middlesbrough are 18th after losing to Newcastle. Wolves are one place lower after their draw with Fulham and Leicester are bottom after Freddie Kanoute’s last-minute winner for Spurs.
Alan Shearer’s brace, in the victory over Fulham, which is their first Premiership defeat in two months, takes him second in Newcastle’s ‘all-time’ list of goalscorers, on 154, behind the legendary Jackie Milburn.

Manchester United crash to a shock home defeat, by Fulham, and The Cottagers celebrate a first win at Old Trafford for 40 years but Arsenal fail to profit as they draw at Charlton, where Di Canio’s penalty is cancelled out by Thierry Henry’s sixth Premiership goal of the season. Chelsea are the only winners in the top three, beating Manchester City and they close the gap on Arsenal to a single point. Adrian Mutu, who set up Hasselbaink’s winner cites his mother’s home cooking as the reason for his resurgent form, after he flew her in from Romania. Chelsea’s Mikael Forssell, on loan at Birmingham, scores the goal that beats Bolton and takes Blues fourth.
Wolves victory over Leicester plunges them to 20th and Henri Camara’s 86th minute goal, which proves the winner, is his first for the club and caps Wolves best winning fight-back since 1956–57, but they are still in the relegation zone. Leeds are in trouble, in the bottom three, after they lose to Liverpool, for whom Sinama-Pongolle scores his first Premiership goal on his League debut. Blackburn, after a fourth successive defeat, at Southampton, only stay out of the bottom three on goal difference.

Story of a Premiership Season - October 2003

Story of a Premiership Season -
October 2003