2007–08 Premier League

Premier League 2007-08
Season information
Winners	Manchester United
Relegated	Reading Birmingham City Derby County
Domestic cup winners
FA Cup	Portsmouth
Carling Cup	Tottenham Hotspur
FA Community Shield	Manchester United
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Manchester United Chelsea Arsenal Liverpool
UEFA Cup	Portsmouth Everton Tottenham Hotspur Manchester City
Intertoto Cup	Aston Villa
Season statistics
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,002
Average	(2.64 per game)
Top goalscorer	Cristiano Ronaldo (31)
Biggest home win	Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City
Biggest away win	Derby County 0-6 Aston Villa
Highest scoring	Portsmouth 7-4 Reading (11 goals)
← 2006-07	2008-09 →

The 2007–08 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) season was the 16th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 11 August 2007, and the season ended on 11 May 2008. Manchester United went into the 2007–08 season as the Premier League's defending champions, having won their ninth Premier League title and sixteenth league championship overall the previous season. This season was also the third consecutive season to see the "Big Four" continue their stranglehold on the top four spots (which mean UEFA Champions League qualification).

The first goal of the season was scored by Michael Chopra, who scored a 94th-minute winner for Sunderland against Tottenham in the early kick-off. The first red card of the season was given to Reading's Dave Kitson after a challenge on Patrice Evra in their opening game against Manchester United. The first hat-trick was scored by Emmanuel Adebayor in the match between Arsenal and Derby County.

On 29 September 2007, Portsmouth beat Reading 7–4 in the highest-scoring match in Premier League history. On 15 December 2007, both Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn Rovers) and Marcus Bent (Wigan Athletic) scored hat-tricks during Wigan's 5–3 home win over Blackburn. This was the first occasion in Premier League history that two players on opposing teams had scored hat-tricks during the same match.

On 29 March 2008, Derby County drew 2–2 with Fulham while Birmingham City, who were 17th in the table at the time, beat Manchester City 3–1, to make Derby County the first team in Premier League history to be relegated in March, ending the season with an all-time top flight record low points tally of just 11.

On 11 May 2008, the final day of the season, Manchester United beat Wigan Athletic 2–0 while Chelsea drew 1–1 with Bolton Wanderers, thus crowning Manchester United with their tenth Premier League title, and 17th championship overall, just one behind Liverpool's total of 18. Meanwhile, despite Birmingham beating Blackburn Rovers 4–1 and Reading beating Derby 4–0, both Birmingham and Reading were relegated due to Fulham's 1–0 win over Portsmouth. This meant that Fulham avoided relegation by a goal difference of −22, compared to Reading's −25. On the same day, Middlesbrough beat Manchester City 8–1 to claim the biggest win of the season.

The season was notable for the return of the English league to the top of UEFA's official ranking list, overtaking La Liga for the period from 1 May 2008 to 30 April 2009. This followed the success of English clubs in the UEFA Champions League, with both champions Manchester United and runners-up Chelsea reaching the European Cup final. This was the first time that the English league had topped the UEFA rankings since the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.

Promotion and relegation

Start of season

Teams promoted from The Championship 2006-07

• Sunderland (Champions)
• Birmingham City (Runners-up)
• Derby County (Playoff winners)

End of season

Teams relegated to The Championship 2008-09

• Reading
• Birmingham City
• Derby County

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Comments
1	Manchester United (C) (Q)	38	27	6	5	80	22	+58	87	Champions League Group stage
2	Chelsea (Q)	38	25	10	3	65	26	+39	85
3	Arsenal (Q)	38	24	11	3	74	31	+43	83	Champions League Third qualifying round
4	Liverpool (Q)	38	21	13	4	67	28	+39	76
5	Everton (Q)	38	19	8	11	55	33	+22	65	UEFA Cup First round
6	Aston Villa (Q)	38	16	12	10	71	51	+20	60	Intertoto Cup Third round
7	Blackburn Rovers	38	15	13	10	50	48	+2	58
8	Portsmouth (Q)	38	16	9	13	48	40	+8	57	UEFA Cup First round
9	Manchester City (Q)	38	15	10	13	45	53	-8	55	UEFA Cup First qualifying round
10	West Ham United	38	13	10	15	42	50	-8	49
11	Tottenham Hotspur (Q)	38	11	13	14	66	61	+5	46	UEFA Cup First round
12	Newcastle United	38	11	10	17	45	65	-20	43
13	Middlesbrough	38	10	12	16	43	53	-10	42
14	Wigan Athletic	38	10	10	18	34	51	-17	40
15	Sunderland	38	11	6	21	36	59	-23	39
16	Bolton Wanderers	38	9	10	19	36	54	-18	37
17	Fulham	38	8	12	1	38	60	-22	36
18	Reading (R)	38	10	6	22	41	66	-25	36	Relegated to The Championship
19	Birmingham City (R)	38	8	11	19	46	62	-16	35
20	Derby County (R)	38	1	8	29	20	89	-69	11

Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1^st points; 2^nd goal difference; 3^rd goals scored.
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; (Q) = Qualified to respective tournament; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

Premier League 2007-08 Winners
Manchester United 10th Premier League title 17th English title

Top goalscorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Cristiano Ronaldo	31	Manchester United
Emmanuel Adebayor	24	Arsenal
Fernando Torres		Liverpool
Roque Santa Cruz	19	Blackburn Rovers
Benjani	15	Portsmouth/Manchester City
Dimitar Berbatov		Tottenham Hotspur
Robbie Keane		Tottenham Hotspur
Yakubu		Everton
Carlos Tévez	14	Manchester United
John Carew	13	Aston Villa

External links

• 2007-08 Premier League Season at RSSSF

Template:2007-08 in English football Template:2007-08 in European football (UEFA)