2004/05 Premier League season review
Chelsea won the 2004/05 Premier League with 95 points, a Premier League record, in José Mourinho's first season in England. They lost one league game, kept 25 clean sheets and conceded only 15 goals, both Premier League records.
Arsenal, whose 49-game unbeaten run ended at Old Trafford in October, finished second, 12 points behind, and Thierry Henry won the Golden Boot with 25 goals. In Fantasy Premier League, Frank Lampard was the top scorer with 269 points.
You can replay the season here with a £100m squad picked from 344 players across all 20 clubs, or read on for how it unfolded.
Mourinho arrives, and a summer of change
Chelsea sacked Claudio Ranieri on 31 May 2004 and appointed José Mourinho two days later. Mourinho called himself the "Special One", and the summer spending built him a new spine:
- Petr Čech from Rennes for £7.1m
- Ricardo Carvalho from Porto for £19.85m, and Paulo Ferreira from Porto for £13.2m
- Arjen Robben from PSV for £12.2m
- Didier Drogba from Marseille for £24.2m
- Tiago from Benfica and Mateja Kežman from PSV
Liverpool changed managers too. Gérard Houllier left in May and Rafael Benítez was appointed on 16 June. Tottenham hired Jacques Santini, who resigned on 5 November and was replaced by Martin Jol.
Everton sold Wayne Rooney to Manchester United on 31 August for £20m, rising to £27m, after a season in which they had avoided relegation by six points. Their main summer signing was Tim Cahill, bought from Millwall for about £2m.
Newcastle sacked Sir Bobby Robson on 30 August and replaced him with Graeme Souness from Blackburn, where Mark Hughes took over. Norwich, West Brom and Crystal Palace were the promoted clubs.
How Mourinho's Chelsea won the 2004/05 title
Mourinho started with a 4-4-2 diamond, then switched to 4-3-3, and Chelsea barely looked back. Čech kept goal behind John Terry and Carvalho, Frank Lampard ran the midfield, and Robben, Damien Duff and Joe Cole supplied the width.
The numbers were unlike anything the league had seen:
- One defeat: 1-0 at Manchester City in October, to a Nicolas Anelka penalty.
- Ten clean sheets in a row between December 2004 and February 2005, and 25 in all.
- 15 goals conceded, only six of them at home.
- 29 wins and 95 points, both Premier League records, passing Manchester United's points total from 1993/94.
Lampard scored 13 league goals and led the league with 18 assists. Robben managed 7 goals and 9 assists from only 14 starts, Joe Cole scored 8, and Duff added 6 goals and 7 assists.
Chelsea also won the League Cup, and the title was settled on 30 April 2005 at the Reebok Stadium, where Lampard scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Bolton. It was Chelsea's first Premier League title and only their second top-flight title. The one blemish was Europe, where they lost to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals.
John Terry was named PFA Players' Player of the Year. Lampard was the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year and the Premier League's Player of the Season, Čech won the Golden Glove, and Mourinho was Manager of the Season.
Arsenal, Everton and the race for Europe
Arsenal finished second on 83 points and scored 87 goals, more than anyone else. Their 49-game unbeaten league run ended with a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford on 24 October 2004. Thierry Henry won the Golden Boot with 25 goals and Robert Pires added 14. Arsenal ended the season with the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 5-4 on penalties in Cardiff after a 0-0 draw. It was the first FA Cup final settled by a shootout, and Patrick Vieira scored the winning kick.
Behind them:
- Manchester United were third on 77 points but scored only 58 league goals.
- Everton took fourth on 61 points, their best Premier League finish to that point, a year after avoiding relegation by six points and a summer after selling Rooney. Cahill was their top scorer with 11 league goals, and Nigel Martyn played 32 league games in goal. A 7-0 defeat at Arsenal in the penultimate game still left them with a negative goal difference.
- Liverpool finished fifth, three points behind Everton, but won the Champions League in Benítez's first season and were allowed to defend it.
- Bolton were sixth and Middlesbrough seventh, both qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored 13 league goals for Middlesbrough.
Manchester City finished eighth. Kevin Keegan resigned in March 2005 and Stuart Pearce took over.
The great escape: a final day with four teams in danger
For the first time in Premier League history, nobody had been relegated before the final day. West Brom started it bottom, with Southampton and Crystal Palace a point above them and Norwich a point further up.
West Brom had been bottom at Christmas and eight points from safety under Bryan Robson, who replaced Gary Megson in November. They beat Portsmouth 2-0 and stayed up, the first club to survive after being bottom at Christmas, and the fans invaded the pitch at The Hawthorns.
Everyone else lost their nerve or their lead:
- Norwich only needed to win, but lost 6-0 at Fulham.
- Southampton led Manchester United through a John O'Shea own goal but lost 2-1, ending a season in which they had three managers, the last of them Harry Redknapp, who had left Portsmouth in November.
- Crystal Palace led 2-1 at Charlton with about eight minutes left, until Jonathan Fortune equalised. Palace became the first club relegated from the Premier League four times, despite 21 league goals from Andy Johnson.
2004/05 Premier League final table
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 38 | 29 | 8 | 1 | 72 | 15 | +57 | 95 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 38 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 87 | 36 | +51 | 83 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 38 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 58 | 26 | +32 | 77 |
| 4 | Everton | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 45 | 46 | -1 | 61 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 58 |
| 6 | Bolton | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 58 |
| 7 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 53 | 46 | +7 | 55 |
| 8 | Manchester City | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 47 | 39 | +8 | 52 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 47 | 41 | +6 | 52 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 45 | 52 | -7 | 47 |
| 11 | Charlton | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 42 | 58 | -16 | 46 |
| 12 | Birmingham | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 40 | 46 | -6 | 45 |
| 13 | Fulham | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 52 | 60 | -8 | 44 |
| 14 | Newcastle | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 47 | 57 | -10 | 44 |
| 15 | Blackburn | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 32 | 43 | -11 | 42 |
| 16 | Portsmouth | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 43 | 59 | -16 | 39 |
| 17 | West Brom | 38 | 6 | 16 | 16 | 36 | 61 | -25 | 34 |
| 18 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 41 | 62 | -21 | 33 |
| 19 | Norwich | 38 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 42 | 77 | -35 | 33 |
| 20 | Southampton | 38 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 45 | 66 | -21 | 32 |
The bottom three were relegated. In the game, every result behind this table plays out as it really happened.
2004/05 top scorers
| Player | Goals | Assists | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thierry Henry Arsenal | 25 | 14 | £12.0m |
| Andrew Johnson Crystal Palace | 21 | 3 | £10.5m |
| Robert Pirès Arsenal | 14 | 4 | £10.5m |
| Yakubu Aiyegbeni Portsmouth | 13 | 3 | £7.5m |
| Jermain Defoe Tottenham Hotspur | 13 | 2 | £8.0m |
| Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Middlesbrough | 13 | 7 | £9.0m |
| Frank Lampard Chelsea | 13 | 18 | £11.5m |
| Peter Crouch Southampton | 12 | 6 | £8.0m |
| Eiður Guðjohnsen Chelsea | 12 | 6 | £10.0m |
| Andy Cole Fulham | 12 | 4 | £8.0m |
2004/05 assist leaders
| Player | Assists | Goals | Our price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Lampard Chelsea | 18 | 13 | £11.5m |
| Thierry Henry Arsenal | 14 | 25 | £12.0m |
| Dennis Bergkamp Arsenal | 12 | 8 | £9.5m |
| Stewart Downing Middlesbrough | 11 | 5 | £8.0m |
| José Antonio Reyes Arsenal | 10 | 9 | £10.5m |
| Arjen Robben Chelsea | 9 | 7 | £9.5m |
| Ryan Giggs Manchester United | 9 | 6 | £8.5m |
| Luís Boa Morte Fulham | 9 | 8 | £8.0m |
| Jonathan Greening West Brom | 9 | 0 | £6.0m |
| Wayne Routledge Crystal Palace | 9 | 0 | £6.0m |
League goals and assists only. Players who moved clubs mid-season are listed under the club they played most for.
Surprises and disappointments
Chelsea broke the records, but several of the season's other stories were harder to predict.
- Everton went from a relegation scrap to fourth place and a Champions League qualifier, even after selling Rooney.
- West Brom became the first club to stay up after being bottom at Christmas.
- Andy Johnson scored 21 league goals for relegated Crystal Palace and made the PFA Team of the Year.
- Shaun Wright-Phillips made the PFA Team of the Year from Manchester City, who finished eighth.
- Bolton and Middlesbrough both qualified for Europe, finishing sixth and seventh.
Others had seasons to forget:
- Arsenal lost their unbeaten run in October and finished 12 points behind Chelsea, though they still won the FA Cup.
- Liverpool won the Champions League but finished fifth in the league, behind Everton.
- Newcastle sacked Sir Bobby Robson in August and finished 14th.
- Tottenham's Jacques Santini lasted until November.
- Southampton went through three managers and were relegated on the final day.
2004/05 in Fantasy Premier League
More than 470,000 managers played Fantasy Premier League in 2004/05. The winner was Andy Tomlins, a Crystal Palace fan whose team, Palace Exile, finished on 2,253 points. He went into the final day 11 points clear, and spent that afternoon at The Valley watching his own club go down.
His team included three Palace players, Andy Johnson, Wayne Routledge and Emmerson Boyce. His most memorable call came in a double gameweek in early May, when he captained Robert Pires. Pires scored and set one up in a 3-1 win over Liverpool, then scored twice in the 7-0 win over Everton.
Frank Lampard was the game's top scorer with 269 points, from 13 goals and 18 assists. He was the first player other than Thierry Henry to finish a season as FPL's highest scorer.
The PFA Team of the Year
The champions supplied four players to the players' own Team of the Year, and Crystal Palace's Andy Johnson made it despite relegation.
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Petr Čech (Chelsea) |
| Defenders | Gary Neville (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Arsenal) |
| Midfielders | Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Arjen Robben (Chelsea) |
| Forwards | Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace), Thierry Henry (Arsenal) |
The season's awards: Terry was PFA Players' Player of the Year. Lampard was the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year and the Premier League's Player of the Season. Henry won the Golden Boot, Čech the Golden Glove, and Mourinho was Manager of the Season.
Most expensive players by position
The premium picks a £100m budget forces you to choose between in 2004/05.
Goalkeepers
- Paul Robinson£6.5m
- Roy Carroll£6.0m
- Petr Čech£6.0m
Defenders
- John Arne Riise£7.0m
- Franck Queudrue£6.5m
- John Terry£6.5m
Midfielders
- Frank Lampard£11.5m
- José Antonio Reyes£10.5m
- Robert Pirès£10.5m
Forwards
- Thierry Henry£12.0m
- Andrew Johnson£10.5m
- Eiður Guðjohnsen£10.0m
2004/05 on Retro Fantasy Football
92 managers have finished a 2004/05 season on our leaderboard (as of October 2026). The best scores so far:
- 2,093 pts
- 2,090 pts
- 2,067 pts
- 2,045 pts
- 2,044 pts
Points follow our scoring rules. Think you can beat them?
2004/05 quick answers
Who won the Premier League in 2004/05? Chelsea, with a record 95 points, 12 ahead of Arsenal.
How many goals did Chelsea concede in 2004/05? 15, a Premier League record, with 25 clean sheets.
Who was relegated in 2004/05? Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Southampton, all on the final day.
Who was the Premier League top scorer in 2004/05? Thierry Henry, with 25 league goals.
Who was PFA Player of the Year in 2004/05? John Terry.
Who scored the most FPL points in 2004/05? Frank Lampard, with 269.
Who won Fantasy Premier League in 2004/05? Andy Tomlins, with 2,253 points.