| Dates: | 19 August 2006 – 13 May 2007 |
| League Topscorer Section: | Top scorers |
| League Topscorer: | Didier Drogba (20 goals) |
| Best Goalkeeper: | Pepe Reina (19 clean sheets) |
| Biggest Home Win: | (1 January 2007) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (28 August 2006) (22 October 2006) (28 October 2006) (2 December 2006) (4 February 2007) |
| Highest Scoring: | (23 December 2006) |
| Matches: | 380 |
| Total Goals: | 931 |
| Longest Wins: | 9 games[1] Chelsea |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 14 games Chelsea |
| Longest Losses: | 8 games Wigan Athletic |
| Longest Winless: | 11 games Aston Villa Watford West Ham United |
| Highest Attendance: | 76,098 Manchester United 4–1 Blackburn Rovers (31 March 2007) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 13,760 Watford 2–1 Blackburn Rovers (23 January 2007) |
| Attendance: | 13,058,755 |
| Average Attendance: | 34,365 |
| Nextseason: | 2007–08 |
The 2006–07 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclays Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th season of the FA Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2006 and concluded on 13 May 2007. Chelsea were the two-time defending champions.
On 12 February 2007, the FA Premier League renamed itself simply to the Premier League. The change introduced a new logo, sleeve patches and typeface. The sponsored name remains the Barclays Premier League.
The 2006–07 season was the lowest-scoring season in Premier League history, with only 931 goals (with a 2.45 goals per match ratio, the poorest in the history of Premier League).
Manchester United won their first Premiership title since 2003, following Chelsea's 1–1 draw with Arsenal on 6 May 2007. The result left the defending champions seven points behind United with two games left. It was their ninth title in fifteen seasons.
The three relegation spots were occupied by Watford and Sheffield United who each lasted one season in the league, along with Charlton Athletic who went down after seven seasons.
Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Football League Championship. The promoted teams were Reading (playing in the top flight for the first time ever), Sheffield United (returning after a twelve-year absence) and Watford (returning after a six-year absence). They replaced Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland, who were relegated to the Championship after their top flight spells of four, two and one year respectively.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | Emirates Stadium | 60,600 | ||
| Aston Villa | Birmingham | Villa Park | 42,553 | |
| Blackburn Rovers | Blackburn | Ewood Park | 31,367 | |
| Bolton Wanderers | Bolton | Reebok Stadium | 28,723 | |
| Charlton Athletic | London | The Valley | 27,111 | |
| Chelsea | London | Stamford Bridge | 42,360 | |
| Everton | Goodison Park | 40,569 | ||
| Fulham | London | Craven Cottage | 24,600 | |
| Liverpool | Liverpool | Anfield | 48,677 | |
| Manchester City | City of Manchester Stadium | 48,000 | ||
| Manchester United | Manchester | Old Trafford | 76,212 | |
| Middlesbrough | Middlesbrough | Riverside Stadium | 35,049 | |
| Newcastle United | Newcastle upon Tyne | St James' Park | 52,387 | |
| Portsmouth | Portsmouth | Fratton Park | 20,220 | |
| Reading | Reading | Madejski Stadium | 24,250 | |
| Sheffield United | Sheffield | Bramall Lane | 32,609 | |
| Tottenham Hotspur | London | White Hart Lane | 36,240 | |
| Watford | Watford | Vicarage Road | 19,920 | |
| West Ham United | London | Boleyn Ground | 35,146 | |
| Wigan Athletic | Wigan | JJB Stadium | 25,138 |
(as of 13 May 2007)
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlton Athletic | Alan Curbishley | End of contract | 24 April 2006[2] | Pre-season | Iain Dowie | 27 May 2006 |
| Middlesbrough | Steve McClaren | Signed by England | 4 May 2006[3] | Gareth Southgate | 7 June 2006[4] | |
| Aston Villa |  David O'Leary | Sacked | 19 July 2006 | Martin O'Neill | 4 August 2006[5] | |
| Charlton Athletic | Iain Dowie | 13 November 2006[6] | 20th | Les Reed | 13 November 2006 | |
| West Ham United | Alan Pardew | 11 December 2006[7] | 18th | Alan Curbishley | 13 December 2006[8] | |
| Charlton Athletic | Les Reed | 20 December 2006 | 19th | Alan Pardew | 24 December 2006[9] | |
| Fulham | Chris Coleman | 10 April 2007[10] | 15th | Lawrie Sanchez | 10 April 2007 | |
| Bolton Wanderers | Sam Allardyce | Resigned | 29 April 2007[11] | 5th | Sammy Lee | 30 April 2007[12] |
| Newcastle United | Glenn Roeder | 6 May 2007[13] | 13th | Nigel Pearson (caretaker) | 6 May 2007 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Didier Drogba | Chelsea | 20 |
| 2 |  Benni McCarthy | Blackburn Rovers | 18 |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | 17 |
| 4 | Wayne Rooney | Manchester United | 14 |
 Mark Viduka | Middlesbrough | ||
| 6 | Darren Bent | Charlton Athletic | 13 |
| Kevin Doyle | Reading | ||
| 8 | Dimitar Berbatov | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 |
 Dirk Kuyt | Liverpool | ||
 Yakubu | Middlesbrough | ||
The Premier League expected to have the league's 15,000th goal scored at some point in the period between Christmas and New Year. The target was reached on 30 December when Moritz Volz scored for Fulham against Chelsea. Barclays, the Premiership's sponsor, donated £15,000 to the Fulham Community Sports Trust in Volz' name. Additionally, a fan who correctly predicted that Volz would score the historic goal in a contest presented the player with a special award prior to Fulham's game against Watford at Craven Cottage on 1 January.[14] The honour of scoring the 15,000th goal led to Volz being nicknamed "15,000 Volz".
On 17 March 2007, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson scored against Watford from an 83-yard free kick, which bounced over his England teammate Ben Foster, who was in goal for the Hornets, leading Spurs to a 3–1 win at White Hart Lane.[15] This was the third goal scored by a goalkeeper in Premiership history. The other two were scored by Peter Schmeichel, for Aston Villa against Everton on 21 October 2001,[16] and Brad Friedel, for Blackburn Rovers against Charlton Athletic on 21 February 2004.[17] In those two cases, the teams they played for lost. Robinson became the first keeper to score for the winning team in a Premiership match.
West Ham escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a 1–0 win over Manchester United, with Carlos Tevez scoring the winner.[18] Sheffield United were relegated, along with Charlton and Watford. Tevez was subsequently found to have been ineligible to play, as he was not owned by West Ham, but by a third party. Sheffield United sued to keep their Premier League status and, when that failed, went to an FA arbitration panel seeking up to £30m compensation. The arbitration panel found in favour of Sheffield United.[19] The two clubs subsequently settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[20]
| Month | Manager | Player | |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2006 | Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) | Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) | |
| September 2006 | Steve Coppell (Reading) | Andrew Johnson (Everton) | |
| October 2006 | Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) | Paul Scholes (Manchester United) | |
| November 2006 | Steve Coppell (Reading) | Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) | |
| December 2006 | Sam Allardyce (Bolton) | Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) | |
| January 2007 | Rafael Benítez (Liverpool) | Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal) | |
| February 2007 | Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) | Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) | |
| March 2007 | José Mourinho (Chelsea) | Petr Čech (Chelsea) | |
| April 2007 | Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa) | Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur) Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur) |
This season's awards were dominated by Manchester United, who, as a team, picked up a total of eight individual awards, five of which went to Cristiano Ronaldo. They also had eight players in the Team of the Year.
The PFA Players' Player of the Year award for 2007 was won by Cristiano Ronaldo. He had won the PFA Young Player of the Year award earlier on in the awards ceremony, making him the first player to win both awards in the same year since Andy Gray managed the same feat in 1977. Didier Drogba came second, while Paul Scholes was third.
The shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, in alphabetical order, is as follows:
The PFA Young Player of the Year award was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. Cesc Fàbregas came in second place, and Aaron Lennon was third. Wayne Rooney was going for a hat-trick of Young Player of the Year awards, having won this award for both of the two preceding seasons, but didn't even feature in the top three for the 2006–07 season.
The shortlist for the award was as follows:
Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United)
Defence: Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić, Patrice Evra (all Manchester United)
Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo (all Manchester United)
Attack: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)
The PFA Merit Award was awarded to Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, for his commitment to the club, the Premiership, and as recognition of the nineteen major trophies he has won in his time in England.
This award was voted for in an online poll run by the PFA on their website. With four days of voting left before the closing date of midnight on 15 April, the five players with the most votes in the poll were Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Dimitar Berbatov, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard, but it was Ronaldo who managed to fend off the challenges of the other four.
The FWA Footballer of the Year award for 2007 was also won by Cristiano Ronaldo. The award is presented by the Football Writers' Association and voted for by its members. This year, Didier Drogba came second and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes came third and fourth respectively.
The Premier League Manager of the Season award was presented to Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson before the club's final game of the season against West Ham United.
The Premier League Player of the Season award was also presented before Manchester United's game with West Ham United on the last day of the season, and was awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo, granting him the sextuple of PFA Players' Player, Young Player, Fans' Player of the Year, Barclays Premiership Player of the Season, Football Writers' Association Player of the Year and a place in the Team of the Year.
Ryan Giggs was presented with this special award at the same time as the Manager and Player of the Season Awards were given out, in recognition of his record of nine Premier League titles.
The Premier League Golden Glove award was presented to Liverpool's Pepe Reina for the second successive season after keeping 19 clean sheets, ahead of Tim Howard of Everton (14) and Marcus Hahnemann of Reading (13).[21]
