After the departure of David Beckham from Manchester United, moving to Real Madrid, they brought in a new replacement for him, the teenage prodigy, Christiano Ronaldo. Chelsea strengthened their squad dramatically as new owner; Roman Abramovich bought out the long term chairman, Ken Bates. He brought in brilliant players like Damien Duff, Juan Veron and Joe Cole. The changes made a huge difference in Chelsea’s performances, as they reached an impressive 2nd position and had a great run in the Champions league. Arsenal were without a doubt the football team of the season. They remained unbeaten through out the entire season, winning 26 matches and drawing the other 12.
Manchester United struggled to find the form they had captured the previous season and they only managed to finish 3rd however victory in the FA Cup final put some respect in their season.
Wayne Rooney was becoming more of a star by the day, as he was now starting most matches for Everton; however Everton could only manage to finish 17h. Glenn Hoddle was sacked as the manager of Tottenham in September; however Jack Santini, his replacement, only stayed for 2 months, before Martin Jol took over as their full time manager.
Many argued the instrumental man behind Arsenal’s success was Thierry Henry, he was in lightning form through out the entire season scoring 30 goals which in turn made him top scorer.
Leeds united were relegated, in what was one of the most spectacular footballing decline and falls in football history. After a string of poor results, Peter Reid was sacked in November, he was replaced by Eddie Gray, who became the fourth manager in less than two seasons but with the club’s crippling debts and a board that was in crisis, he was unable to stop relegation.
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City were also relegated back into the first division.
The young player of the year was Scott Parker of Chelsea, he helped Chelsea to success in the league and champions league.