1997–98 FA Premier League
The 1997–98 FA Premier League was the sixth season of the FA Premier League. It saw Arsenal 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, who became the third manager to win the Premier League. Wenger followed in the footsteps of Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish and, while both Ferguson and Dalglish were Scottish, 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 places went to Liverpool, Leeds United, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers. Qualifying for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup were Chelsea and FA Cup runners-up Newcastle United. Crystal Palace, while finishing bottom, qualified for the Intertoto Cup.
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 away 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 away 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, 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 was highlighted at the end of 1997–98 when all three newly promoted teams were relegated. Crystal Palace was confined to the 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's first season in the top division ended in relegation, although they did reach the FA Cup quarter finals and knocked out Manchester United in the Fifth Round. Bolton Wanderers 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 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 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 Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Crystal Palace. They replaced Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest, who were relegated to the First Division after top flight spells of one, two and three years respectively.Stadiums and locations
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Arsenal | London | Arsenal Stadium | 38,419 |
| Aston Villa | Birmingham | Villa Park | 42,573 |
| Barnsley | Barnsley | Oakwell | 23,287 |
| Blackburn Rovers | Blackburn | Ewood Park | 31,367 |
| Bolton Wanderers | Bolton | Reebok Stadium | 28,723 |
| Chelsea | London | Stamford Bridge | 42,055 |
| Coventry City | Coventry | Highfield Road | 23,489 |
| Crystal Palace | London | Selhurst Park | 26,074 |
| Derby County | Derby | Pride Park Stadium | 33,597 |
| Everton | Liverpool | Goodison Park | 40,569 |
| Leeds United | Leeds | Elland Road | 40,242 |
| Leicester City | Leicester | Filbert Street | 22,000 |
| Liverpool | Liverpool | Anfield | 45,522 |
| Manchester United | Manchester | Old Trafford | 55,385 |
| Newcastle United | Newcastle upon Tyne | St James' Park | 52,387 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | Sheffield | Hillsborough Stadium | 39,732 |
| Southampton | Southampton | The Dell | 15,200 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | London | White Hart Lane | 36,240 |
| West Ham United | London | Boleyn Ground | 35,647 |
| Wimbledon | London | Selhurst Park | 26,074 |
Personnel and kits
A list of personnel and kits of the clubs in the 1997–98 FA Premier League.| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arsenal |  |1974League tableSeason statisticsScoringTop scorers
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