The 1997–98 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

. It saw

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

lift their first league title since 1991 and, in so doing, became only the second team to win The Double for the second time. It was Arsenal's first full season under French manager

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...

, who became the third manager to win the Premier League. Wenger followed in the footsteps of

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

and

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

and, while both Ferguson and Dalglish were

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

, Wenger was the first manager from outside the British Isles to win a league title in England.

Season summary

At the end of the 1997–98 FA Premier League season, a record total of nine English teams qualified for European competition. Premiership champions Arsenal and runners-up Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, while

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

places went to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. Qualifying for the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

were Chelsea (as defending champions) and FA Cup runners-up

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. Crystal Palace, while finishing bottom, qualified for the Intertoto Cup.League tables and results for English football leagues, 1997–98 season
Retrieved 21 September 2006. Manchester United led the table for most of the season, before a dip in form during the final two months of the campaign saw Arsenal overtake them in April, taking advantage of games in hand, and winning the league title with two matches remaining, although the gap between the champions and runners-up was a single point in the final table as Arsenal lost their final two fixtures and Alex Ferguson’s men won both of theirs. Arsenal then completed the double by winning the FA Cup. Despite the sudden dismissal of FA Cup winning player-manager

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and subsequent manager. Regarded among the greatest footballers of all time, he was also noted for his Utility player#Association football, abili ...

, Chelsea won the League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup under new player-manager Gianluca Vialli. The gap between the Premier League and Division One of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

was highlighted at the end of 1997–98 when all three newly promoted teams were relegated. Crystal Palace was confined to bottom place in the final table having won just two home games all season and losing most of their games in the second half of the campaign.

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

's first season in the top division ended in relegation, although they did reach the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

quarter finals and knock out Manchester United in the Fifth Round.

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

went down on goal difference, with 17th place being occupied by Everton: despite preserving top flight football for the 45th season running, Howard Kendall quit as manager at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

after his third spell in charge. Another mark of the gap was that the three relegated teams in the previous season took the top three places in the 1997–98 Football League. Had

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

not lost the play-off final to Charlton Athletic on a penalty shootout, the 20 teams from the 1998–99 Premier League would have been exactly the same as those in the 1996–97 Premier League.

Teams

Twenty teams are competing in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were

(returning after a season's absence),

(playing in the top flight for the first time) and Crystal Palace (playing in the top flight after a two year absence). They replaced

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, who were relegated to the First Division after top flight spells of one, two and three years respectively.

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

A list of personnel and kits of the

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

in the 1997–98 FA Premier League.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

:Note: ⁴ Player scored 4 goals; ^P Player scored a perfect hat-trick; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

References and notes

External links

1997–98 Premier League Season at RSSSF

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 FA Premier League Premier League seasons Eng 1997–98 in English football leagues