1995–96 FA Premier League

Summary

Liverpool and Aston Villa emerged as possible title contenders early in the season, while Middlesbrough's early promise saw them occupy fourth place in late October. However, an injury crisis saw their league form slump, leading them up to 12th-place. Most of the campaign was a two-horse race between Manchester United and Newcastle United. The two sides played on 27 December, with Newcastle 10 points ahead in the league. A 2–0 home win for Manchester United cut the gap to seven points, and two days later they beat Queens Park Rangers 2–1 to reduce the gap to just four points. Nevertheless, a 4–1 defeat at Tottenham on New Year's Day and a 0–0 draw with Aston Villa allowed Newcastle to establish a 12-point lead in January.

Manchester United and Newcastle met again in early March, by which time the gap had been cut to four points. A second half goal by Eric Cantona gave Manchester United a 1–0 away win and cut the gap to a single point. With one game left of the season, Manchester United led the Premier League by two points, having taken lead of the league halfway through March and stayed on top ever since. In case of the two clubs being tied for first place, the Premier League made preliminary preparations for a championship play-off match at Wembley. For Newcastle to win their first title since 1927, they had to win against Tottenham and hope that their north-eastern rivals Middlesbrough defeated Alex Ferguson’s men. But the Premier League title went to Old Trafford as Manchester United won 3–0 and Newcastle could only manage a 1–1 draw with Tottenham.

Despite the arrival of Dennis Bergkamp, Arsenal never looked like serious title challengers. Their best chance of success coming in the League Cup, where they reached the semi-finals, was lost on away goals to Aston Villa. However, the North London side still qualified for the UEFA Cup by finishing fifth.

Aston Villa won the Coca-Cola sponsored League Cup competition this season, beating Leeds United 3–0 at Wembley.

Title holders, Blackburn, recorded the lowest ever finish by a Premier League title-holder by finishing 7th. This record was matched by Manchester United in 2013–14 and broken by Chelsea in 2015–16 and again by Leicester City in 2016–17. However, Rovers striker Alan Shearer was still the league’s top scorer with 31 goals.

Six days after clinching their third league title in four seasons, Manchester United became the first team to complete a second league championship and FA Cup double when a Cantona goal gave them a 1–0 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup final.

Fourth place Aston Villa lifted the League Cup for a joint record fifth time, securing a UEFA Cup place for the third time in four seasons.

The Premier League relegation places went to Bolton Wanderers, Queens Park Rangers, and Manchester City. Bolton had spent most of their first Premier League season bottom of the table, and an improvement in form was not enough to save the Burnden Park side from an immediate return to Division One. They went down on the season’s penultimate weekend, on the same day that QPR’s 3-0 win over London rivals West Ham came too late to save the top flight place they had held since 1983. Manchester City failed to beat Liverpool on the final day of the season, consigning them to the final relegation place on goal difference behind Southampton and Coventry City.

English performance in European competition

Blackburn Rovers, the 1994–95 Premier League champions, finished bottom of their group in the UEFA Champions League. Manchester United were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the first round, with Liverpool and Leeds United both being knocked out at the second round. Everton were beaten in the second round of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The only English team still in European competition after Christmas were Nottingham Forest, who reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur, Wimbledon and Sheffield Wednesday were invited to the revamped Intertoto Cup, which became under the auspices of UEFA. All three failed to progress from the group stage but due to Tottenham and Wimbledon fielding under-strength teams, they both received a one-year suspension from UEFA. The bans were lifted upon appeal however, the Football Association were forced to forfeit their Fair Play berth for the 1996–97 UEFA Cup to go to the best-placed team not qualified for Europe, which were Everton.

Teams

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top eighteen teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were Middlesbrough and Bolton Wanderers, returning to the top flight after two and fifteen years respectively. This was also Bolton Wanderers' first season in the Premier League. They replaced Crystal Palace, Norwich City, Leicester City and Ipswich Town, who were relegated to the First Division after their top flight spells of one, nine, one and three years respectively. This was the first season in which the league was contested by twenty teams as opposed to previous seasons which were contested by twenty-two teams.

Stadiums and locations

Arsenal

Chelsea

Queens Park Rangers

Tottenham Hotspur

West Ham United

Wimbledon

Bolton Wanderers

Manchester City

Manchester United|position=right}}

Personnel and kits

(as of 5 May 1996)

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks

:Note: 4 Player scored 4 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Attendances

Source: !#!!Football club!!Home games!!Average attendance |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester United || 19 || 41,681 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Liverpool FC || 19 || 39,553 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Arsenal FC || 19 || 37,568 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Newcastle United || 19 || 36,505 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Everton FC || 19 || 35,424 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Aston Villa || 19 || 32,772 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Leeds United || 19 || 32,629 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Tottenham Hotspur || 19 || 30,548 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Middlesbrough FC || 19 || 29,252 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester City || 19 || 27,941 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Blackburn Rovers || 19 || 27,552 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Nottingham Forest || 19 || 25,916 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Chelsea FC || 19 || 25,598 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sheffield Wednesday || 19 || 24,874 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Ham United || 19 || 22,317 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Bolton Wanderers || 19 || 18,823 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Coventry City || 19 || 18,528 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Queens Park Rangers || 19 || 15,672 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Southampton FC || 19 || 14,822 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Wimbledon FC || 19 || 13,230 |- |} }}

References and notes

References

1. "English Premier League 1995–96". statto.com.
2. "Premier League 1995/96 Attendances". worldfootball.net.
3. [https://www.rsssf.org/engpaul/FLA/1994-95.html England 1994/95]
4. (15 May 2013). "Arsenal and Chelsea may face play-off". Premier League.
5. [https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engcup1996.html England – FA Challenge Cup 1995–1996]
6. [https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199596.html European Competitions 1995–96] {{webarchive. link. (15 January 2013)
7. [https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199596.html European Competitions 1995–96]
8. [https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199596.html European Competitions 1995–96]
9. "Season 1994/95 | Official Site of the Premier League - Barclays Premier League News, Fixtures and Results | Premier League | History | 1994/95 Season".
10. (16 December 1995). "English clubs pay for Intertoto fiasco". The Independent.
11. Hey, Stan. (20 August 1995). "Roy runs free for Forest". The Independent.
12. "Liverpool 5–2 Bolton Wanderers". Soccerbase.
13. Culley, Jon. (24 September 1995). "Shearer lifts the gloom". The Independent.
14. Brenkley, Stephen. (24 September 1995). "Yeboah up to his old tricks". The Independent.
15. Barnes, Scott. (22 October 1995). "Ferdinand dons triple crown". The Independent.
16. Barnes, Scott. (29 October 1995). "Leeds stirred by McAllister". The Independent.
17. Hadfield, Dave. (19 November 1995). "Bohinen busts Forest's dam". The Independent.
18. Cullely, Jon. (3 December 1995). "Shearer bliss". The Independent.
19. Hodgson, Guy. (5 December 1995). "Football: Bright's finish makes Dublin's hat-trick irrelevant". The Independent.
20. Shaw, Phil. (17 December 1995). "Football: Milosevic finally comes good". The Independent.
21. Fox, Norman. (24 December 1995). "Fowler does trick for Liverpool". The Independent.
22. Hadfield, Dave. (4 February 1996). "Dogged Shearer puts bite on Bolton". The Independent.
23. Moore, Glenn. (5 February 1996). "Chelsea burst into bloom". The Independent.
24. Haylett, Trevor. (14 April 1996). "Shearer steals show". The Independent.
25. Brown, Geoff. (14 April 1996). "Hughes bang up to date". The Independent.
26. Barnes, Scott. (28 April 1996). "Kanchelskis rules". The Independent.
27. "Carling Premiership Player of the Month 1995/96". Premier League.
28. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAPlyr.html England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Players' Players of the Year]
29. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAYngPlyr.html England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Young Players of the Year]
30. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsFWAFbYr.html England Player Honours – Football Writers' Association Footballers of the Year]
31. https://www.worldfootball.net/competition/co91/england-premier-league/se3286/1995-1996/attendance/