Old Trafford gates boost attendances

The record attendances at Old Trafford of more than 70,000 have given the Premiership overall crowd scene a shot in the arm.

Although the general total in the 20-club Premier League remained almost unchanged, going over the figures of 13 million, the tally would have fallen had it not been for the new break in gates at Manchester United.

The capacity 73,006 that flocked to Old Trafford for United's last Premiership match of the season, a 4-0 annihilation of Charlton, established a new record.

The capacity will rise to 76,000 when current works on two corner stands will be completed in time for the new campaign.

The 69,522 crowd for United's home clash against Celtic in the testimonial of Roy Keane was a new British record for similar matches, surpassing the 1972 crowd of 60,000 that watched United play Celtic for Bobby Charlton's testimonial.

In addition to Manchester United, seven other clubs have shown an increase on their average attendances, most of them capacity gates: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Tottenham.

Clean sheets

Liverpool 22 (7)
Chelsea 20 (25)
Manchester United 18 (19)
Arsenal 16 (16)
Blackburn Rovers 15 (16)
Bolton Wanderers 15 (7)
Charlton Athletic 13 (12)
Everton 13 (13)
Newcastle United 13 (6)
Tottenham Hotspur 13 (13)
Aston Villa 11 (11)

Middlesbrough 11 (11)
Fulham 10 (8)
Wigan Athletic 10 (-)
Birmingham City 9 (9)
West Ham United 9 (-)
West Brom 9 (7)
Manchester City 6 (11)
Portsmouth 5 (5)
Sunderland 4 (-)
Note: In brackets last season's total.

Doubles

Chelsea (10): Wigan, Arsenal, Sunderland, Liverpool, Portsmouth, West Brom, Tottenham, Manchester City, West Ham, Bolton.

Liverpool (10): Sunderland, Wigan, Manchester City, Newcastle, Everton, West Brom, Blackburn, West Ham, Aston Villa, Portsmouth.

Manchester United (9): Aston Villa, Fulham, Portsmouth, Wigan, Newcastle, West Brom, West Ham, Bolton, Charlton.

Arsenal (6): Birmingham, Fulham, Charlton, Sunderland, Manchester City, Wigan.

Tottenham (5): Portsmouth, Charlton, Birmingham, Manchester City, Everton.

Blackburn (4): Man. United, M'boro, Sunderland, Charlton.

Charlton (4): Sunderland, Birmingham, M'boro, Portsmouth.

Manchester City (4): Birmingham, Charlton, Sunderland, Aston Villa.

West Ham (4): Aston Villa, Fulham, Birmingham, West Brom.

Bolton (3): Manchester City, West Ham, Charlton.

Wigan (3): Sunderland, Manchester City, Aston Villa.

Aston Villa (2): Birmingham, Sunderland.

Everton (2): Blackburn, Middlesbrough.

Newcastle (2): Sunderland, West Brom.

Portsmouth (2): Fulham, Sunderland.

Birmingham (1): Sunderland.

Fulham (1): Manchester City.

Middlesbrough (1): Birmingham.

Sunderland and West Brom are the clubs that failed to claim a double.

The ones with the most home-and-away losses against the same club are: Sunderland - 11; Birmingham, Manchester City - seven; Charlton - six.

Chelsea ended the campaign without a double against.

Treble terriers

July 13: Gerrard for Liverpool (home) vs TNS FC 3-0 (Champions League).

September 12: Harewood for West Ham (home) vs Aston Villa 4-0.

December 17: Owen for Newcastle (away) vs West Ham 4-2; Camara for Wigan (home) v Charlton 3-0.

January 7: Fowler for Manchester City (home) vs Scunthorpe 3-1 (FA Cup).

January 14: Henry for Arsenal (home) vs Middlesbrough 7-0.

February 1: Bentley for Blackburn (home) vs Man. United 4-3.

February 4: Moore for Aston Villa (away) vs Middlesbrough 4-0.

May 7: Henry for Arsenal (home) vs Wigan 4-2.
(Where not indicated trebles attained in league action).

Penalty poachers

Lampard (Chelsea) 5
Shearer (Newcastle) 4
Henry (Arsenal) 3
Helguson (Fulham) 3
Yakubu (Middlesbrough) 3
Keane (Tottenham) 3

Players of the Month

August - Darren Bent (Charlton).

September - Danny Murphy (Charlton).

October - Frank Lampard (Chelsea).

November - Robin Van Persie (Arsenal).

December - Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

January - Anton Ferdinand (West Ham).

February - Kevin Nolan (Bolton).

March - Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

April - Steven Gerrard (Liverpool).

Managers of the Month

August - Stuart Pearce (Manchester City).

September - Paul Jewell (Wigan).

October - Paul Jewell (Wigan).

November - Rafael Benitez (Liverpool).

December - Rafael Benitez (Liverpool).

January - David Moyes (Everton).

February - Alan Pardew (West Ham).

March - Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).

April - Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth).

Dismissals

Birmingham (7): Butt, Kilkenny, Cunningham, Vaesen, Izzet, Johnson, Heskey.

Everton (7): Neville (twice), Arteta, Ferguson, Turner, Van der Meyde, Carsley.

Newcastle (6): Parker, Taylor, Bowyer, Babayaro, Boumsong, Elliott.

Blackburn (5): Dickov, Neale, Todd, Savage, Tugay.

Liverpool (5): Sissoko, Reina, Alonso, Gerrard, Garcia.

Tottenham (5): Dawson twice, Mido, Stalteri, Davids.

Bolton (4): Gardner, Diouf, Nakata, Ben Haim.

Chelsea (4): Robben (twice), Carvalho, Gallas.

Manchester City (4): Cole, Jordan, Barton, Distin.

Wigan (4): McCulloch, Roberts, Teale, Johansson.

Middlesbrough (3): Ehiogu, Riggott, Doriva.

Sunderland (3): Wright, Breen, Caldwell.

Arsenal (2): Gilberto, Fabregas.

Aston Villa (2): Solano, Barry.

Charlton (2): Ambrose, Murphy.

Fulham (2): Boa Morte, Brown.

Manchester United (2): Ronaldo, Ferdinand.

West Brom (2): Moore, Quashie.

Portsmouth (1): Roberts.

West Ham (1): Mullins.

Youth Cup

Liverpool bridged a gap of ten years to claim the FA Youth Cup, defeating Manchester City 3-2 on aggregate - Home 3-0, Away 0-2.

In the semi-finals, the Reds saw off Southampton 5-4 on penalties and City beat Newcastle 4-2 in the two-legged tie.

Kick-off 2006/07

The coming Premiership season will kick off on Saturday, August 19. Champions Chelsea will face FA Cup winners Liverpool at Cardiff in the Community Shield match on Sunday, August 13.