1995–96 FA Premier League

The 1995–96 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the competition, since its formation in 1992. Due to the decision to reduce the number of clubs in the FA Premier League from 22 to 20, only two clubs, Middlesbrough and Bolton Wanderers, were promoted instead of the usual three.

Manchester United won the Premier League and qualified for the UEFA Champions League, while Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Newcastle United qualified for the UEFA Cup. Liverpool also qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as runners-up of the FA Cup which was won by Manchester United.

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

Team Location Stadium Capacity Arsenal London Arsenal Stadium Aston Villa Birmingham Villa Park Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park Bolton Wanderers Bolton Burnden Park Chelsea London Stamford Bridge Coventry City Coventry Highfield Road Everton Liverpool Goodison Park Leeds United Leeds Elland Road Liverpool Liverpool Anfield Manchester City Manchester Maine Road Manchester United Manchester Old Trafford Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium Newcastle United Newcastle upon Tyne St James' Park Nottingham Forest West Bridgford City Ground Queens Park Rangers London Loftus Road Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Hillsborough Stadium Southampton Southampton The Dell Tottenham Hotspur London White Hart Lane West Ham United London Boleyn Ground Wimbledon London Selhurst Park

Personnel and kits (as of 5 May 1996) Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorArsenal Bruce Rioch Tony AdamsNikeJVCAston Villa Brian Little Andy TownsendReebokAST ResearchBlackburn Rovers Ray Harford Tim SherwoodAsicsMcEwan's LagerBolton Wanderers Colin Todd Alan StubbsReebokReebokChelsea Glenn Hoddle Dennis WiseUmbroCoorsCoventry City Ron Atkinson Brian BorrowsPonyPeugeotEverton Joe Royle Dave WatsonUmbroDankaLeeds United Howard Wilkinson Gary McAllisterAsicsThistle HotelsLiverpool Roy Evans Ian RushAdidasCarlsbergManchester City Alan Ball Keith CurleUmbroBrotherManchester United Alex Ferguson Steve BruceUmbroSharpMiddlesbrough Bryan Robson Nigel PearsonErreàCellnetNewcastle United Kevin Keegan Peter BeardsleyAdidasNewcastle Brown AleNottingham Forest Frank Clark Stuart PearceUmbroLabatt'sQueens Park Rangers Ray Wilkins David BardsleyView FromCompaqSheffield Wednesday David Pleat Peter AthertonPumaSandersonSouthampton Dave Merrington Matt Le TissierPonySandersonTottenham Hotspur Gerry Francis Gary MabbuttPonyHewlett-PackardWest Ham United Harry Redknapp Steve PottsPonyDagenham MotorsWimbledon Joe Kinnear Vinnie JonesCoreElonex

Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Manchester City Brian Horton Sacked 16 May 1995 Pre-season Alan Ball 2 July 1995 Sheffield Wednesday Trevor Francis 20 May 1995 David Pleat 14 June 1995 Arsenal Stewart Houston End of caretaker spell 8 June 1995 Bruce Rioch 8 June 1995 Bolton Wanderers Bruce Rioch Signed by Arsenal Roy McFarland Colin Todd 20 June 1995 Blackburn Rovers Kenny Dalglish Promoted to Director of Football 25 June 1995 Ray Harford 25 June 1995 Southampton Alan Ball Signed by Manchester City 2 July 1995 David Merrington 14 July 1995 Bolton Wanderers Roy McFarland Sacked 2 January 1996 20th Colin Todd 2 January 1996

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals1 Alan ShearerBlackburn Rovers312 Robbie FowlerLiverpool283 Les FerdinandNewcastle United254 Dwight YorkeAston Villa175 Teddy SheringhamTottenham Hotspur166 Chris ArmstrongTottenham Hotspur15 Andrei KanchelskisEverton15 Ian WrightArsenal159 Eric CantonaManchester United14 Stan CollymoreLiverpool14 Dion DublinCoventry City14

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Ref Southampton Nottingham Forest 3–4 (A) 4 Liverpool Bolton Wanderers 5–2 (H) Blackburn Rovers Coventry City 5–1 (H) Leeds United Wimbledon 4–2 (H) Newcastle United Wimbledon 6–1 (H) Leeds United Coventry City 3–1 (H) Blackburn Rovers Nottingham Forest 7–0 (H) Blackburn Rovers West Ham United 4–2 (H) Coventry City Sheffield Wednesday 4–3 (A) Aston Villa Coventry City 4–1 (H) Liverpool Arsenal 3–1 (H) Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers 3–1 (H) Chelsea Middlesbrough 5–0 (H) Blackburn Rovers Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 (A) Chelsea Leeds United 4–1 (H) Everton Sheffield Wednesday 5–2 (A) Note: 4 Player scored 4 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Awards

Monthly awards

MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Kevin Keegan Newcastle United David GinolaNewcastle UnitedSeptember Tony YeboahLeeds UnitedOctober Frank ClarkNottingham Forest Trevor SinclairQueens Park RangersNovember Alan BallManchester City Rob LeeNewcastle UnitedDecember Roy Evans Liverpool Robbie FowlerLiverpoolJanuary Stan CollymoreLiverpool Robbie FowlerFebruary Alex Ferguson Manchester United Dwight YorkeAston VillaMarch Eric CantonaManchester UnitedApril Dave MerringtonSouthampton Andrei KanchelskisEverton

Annual awards

Award Winner Club Premier League Manager of the Season Alex Ferguson Manchester United PFA Players' Player of the Year Les Ferdinand Newcastle United PFA Young Player of the Year Robbie Fowler Liverpool FWA Footballer of the Year Eric Cantona Manchester United

PFA Team of the Year Goalkeeper David James (Liverpool) Defence Gary Neville (Manchester United) Tony Adams (Arsenal) Ugo Ehiogu (Aston Villa) Alan Wright (Aston Villa) Midfield Steve Stone (Nottingham Forest) Rob Lee (Newcastle United) Ruud Gullit (Chelsea) David Ginola (Newcastle United) Attack Les Ferdinand (Newcastle United) Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers)

Attendances Source:

1995–96 FA Premier League

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