The season started off in dramatic fashion as usual, the star being, Dion Dublin as he scored three goals for Coventry against Chelsea, in a match which they won 3-2. Manchester United’s season commenced in fine style as they beat Spurs 2-0. Teddy Sheringham made his first appearance for United after signing from Tottenham. After Chelsea’s disappointing opening match defeat, they thrashed Barnsley 6-0. August ended with Blackburn and Manchester united as joint leaders. Ian Wright broke Cliff Bastin’s record of 178 goals on 13the September as he scored a hat-trick against Bolton to land himself with 180 goals. A thrilling tie between Blackburn and Leeds ended 4-3 in a match in September, with all seven goals coming in the first 35 minutes of the match. Arsenal regained their fine form as they scored four and five past West ham and Barnsley respectively. Manchester United were closing in on them, beating Barnsley 7-0 with an Andy Cole hat trick and thumping Sheffield Wednesday 6-1. Liverpool thrashed Tottenham 4-0 in October, which marked Gerry Francis’s final match managing Tottenham and he was replaced by Swiss manager, Christian Gross. However it did not make much difference to Tottenham’s performances as they lost at home to Chelsea 6-1.
Gianluca Vialli replaced Ruud Gullit as manager of Chelsea at the end of 1997, as he was surprisingly sacked as manager.
Manchester United continued their dazzling form as they moved into an eleven point lead at the top of the league by the end of February. However they could not sustain their amazing run as they suffered to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday which was to be followed up by a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal, which cut the lead at the top to only six points. Few weeks later, Arsenal went top of the league as they beat Wimbledon and they remained their till the end of the season. On 3rd may, Arsenal recorded their tenth consecutive victory, which set a new league record and made Arsene Wenger the first foreign manager to win the title. Arsenal won the league as they beat Everton 4-0.
The 1997-98 season also saw the emergence of Michael Owen as the teenage prodigy was outstanding, scoring a total of 18 goals for Liverpool in his 36 appearances at only the tender age of 18.