| Competition: | FA Premier League |
| Season: | 1995–96 |
| Dates: | 19 August 1995 – 5 May 1996 |
| Winners: | Manchester United 3rd Premier League title 10th English title |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Manchester United |
| Continentalcup2: | Cup Winners' Cup |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Liverpool |
| Continentalcup3: | UEFA Cup |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Newcastle United Aston Villa Arsenal |
| Relegated: | Manchester City Queens Park Rangers Bolton Wanderers |
| Matches: | 380 |
| Total Goals: | 988 |
| League Topscorer: | Alan Shearer (31 goals) |
| Best Goalkeeper: | Peter Schmeichel (18 clean sheets) |
| Biggest Home Win: | (18 November 1995) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (25 February 1996) |
| Highest Scoring: | (16 December 1995) |
| Longest Wins: | 6 games[1] Manchester United |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 15 games Liverpool |
| Longest Winless: | 14 games Coventry City Wimbledon |
| Longest Losses: | 8 games Manchester City Middlesbrough |
| Highest Attendance: | 53,926[2] (28 April 1996) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 6,352 (30 August 1995) |
| Attendance: | 10,472,882 |
| Average Attendance: | 27,560 |
| Prevseason: | 1994–95 |
| Nextseason: | 1996–97 |
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.[3]
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.
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 a 12th-place finish. 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.[4] 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.[5]
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.
Blackburn Rovers, the 1994–95 Premier League champions, finished bottom of their group in the UEFA Champions League.[6] 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.[7] Everton were beaten in the second round of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.[8] The only English team still in European competition after Christmas were Nottingham Forest, who reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
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.
(as of 5 May 1996)
| 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[9] | ||
| 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 | Retired | 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 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Shearer | Blackburn Rovers | 31 |
| 2 | Robbie Fowler | Liverpool | 28 |
| 3 | Les Ferdinand | Newcastle United | 25 |
| 4 | Dwight Yorke | Aston Villa | 17 |
| 5 | Teddy Sheringham | Tottenham Hotspur | 16 |
| 6 | Chris Armstrong | Tottenham Hotspur | 15 |
 Andrei Kanchelskis | Everton | 15 | |
| Ian Wright | Arsenal | 15 | |
| 9 |  Eric Cantona | Manchester United | 14 |
| Stan Collymore | Liverpool | 14 | |
| Dion Dublin | Coventry City | 14 | |
See main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks.
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton | Nottingham Forest | 3–4 (A) | [10] | |||
| 4 | Liverpool | Bolton Wanderers | 5–2 (H) | [11] | ||
| Blackburn Rovers | Coventry City | 5–1 (H) | [12] | |||
 | Leeds United | Wimbledon | 4–2 (H) | [13] | ||
| Newcastle United | Wimbledon | 6–1 (H) | [14] | |||
| Leeds United | Coventry City | 3–1 (H) | [15] | |||
| Blackburn Rovers | Nottingham Forest | 7–0 (H) | [16] | |||
| Blackburn Rovers | West Ham United | 4–2 (H) | [17] | |||
| Coventry City | Sheffield Wednesday | 4–3 (A) | [18] | |||
| Aston Villa | Coventry City | 4–1 (H) | [19] | |||
| Liverpool | Arsenal | 3–1 (H) | [20] | |||
| Blackburn Rovers | Bolton Wanderers | 3–1 (H) | [21] | |||
| Chelsea | Middlesbrough | 5–0 (H) | [22] | |||
| Blackburn Rovers | Tottenham Hotspur | 3–2 (A) | [23] | |||
| Chelsea | Leeds United | 4–1 (H) | [24] | |||
| | Everton | Sheffield Wednesday | 5–2 (A) | [25] |
Note: 4 Player scored 4 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away
| Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Club | Player | Club | ||
| August | Kevin Keegan[26] | Newcastle United | David Ginola | Newcastle United | |
| September | Tony Yeboah | Leeds United | |||
| October | Frank Clark | Nottingham Forest | Trevor Sinclair | Queens Park Rangers | |
| November | Alan Ball | Manchester City | Rob Lee | Newcastle United | |
| December | Roy Evans | Liverpool | Robbie Fowler | Liverpool | |
| January | Stan Collymore | Liverpool | |||
| Robbie Fowler | |||||
| February | Alex Ferguson | Manchester United | Dwight Yorke | Aston Villa | |
| March | Eric Cantona | Manchester United | |||
| April | Dave Merrington | Southampton | Andrei Kanchelskis | Everton | |
| Award | Winner | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League Manager of the Season | Alex Ferguson | Manchester United | |
| PFA Players' Player of the Year | Les Ferdinand[27] | Newcastle United | |
| PFA Young Player of the Year | Robbie Fowler[28] | Liverpool | |
| FWA Footballer of the Year | Eric Cantona[29] | 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) | |||||||||||
