Manchester United had chalked up their seventh Premier League crown by the end of season 2000-01 but the next year up stepped Arsenal to take their place at the summit of the English game by winning the two big domestic honours.
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal went on to claim their second double in four years and third in history, equalling United's feat of league and FA Cup double in the same season.
The Gunners clinched the FA Cup and the Premiership championship in style, going through a whole campaign without losing on their travels, a record that was previously held by Preston NE... 113 years before. The Highbury Reds had also managed to score in every game they played in the two domestic tournaments.
Wenger had succeeded in assembling another formidable team, after he had lost seven regulars from the side that achieved the first double under his guidance.
Robert Pires, Lauren, Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Kanu, Oleg Luzhny, Sol Campbell, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Sylvain Wiltord replaced Manuel Petit, Marc Overmars, David Platt, Nicolas Anelka, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould and Ian Wright.
Henry, in particular, did a fine job to replace Wright in the Arsenal attack. The Frenchman went on to top the scorers' list with 24 goals at the end of the season.
The championship crown won by Arsenal in 2001 was the club's 12th, third in the all-time list at that particular moment behind Liverpool, 18, and Manchester United, 14.
The title was attained at Old Trafford when in the penultimate match of the campaign Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0. This came after the Gunners beat neighbours Chelsea in the FA Cup final (2-0 at the Millennium Stadium).
In the league, Arsenal suffered three defeats − all at home to Charlton, Leeds and Newcastle.
Top scorers
24 − Henry (Arsenal)
23 − Hasselbaink (Chelsea), Nistelrooy (Man. United), Shearer (Newcastle)
19 − Owen (Liverpool)
17 − Solksjaer (Manchester United)
Transfers
Arsenal: Giovanni van Bronkhorst from Rangers, Francis Jeffers from Everton; Silvinho to Celta Vigo.
Aston Villa: Mustapha Hadji from Coventry, Olof Mellberg from Santander; David James to West Ham.
Blackburn: Corrado Grabbi from Ternana, Andy Cole from Manchester United; Marcus Bent to Ipswich.
Bolton: Henrik Pederson from Silkeborg, Bruno Ngotty from Marseille; Nicky Summerbee to Manchester City.
Charlton: Jason Euell from Wimbledon, Luke Young from Tottenham; Shaun Newton to Wolves.
Chelsea: William Gallas from Marseille, Frank Lampard from West Ham; Gustavo Poyet to Tottenham.
Derby: Benito Carbone from Bradford, Warren Barton from Newcastle; Seth Johnson to Leeds.
Everton: Thomas Radzinski from Anderlecht, Tobias Linderoth from Stabaek; Michael Ball to Rangers.
Fulham: Steed Malbranque from Lyon, Sylvain Legwinski from Bordeaux; Paul Peschisolido to Sheffield United.
Ipswich: Pablo G. Counago from Celta Vigo, Matteo Sereni from Sampdoria; Richard Wright to Arsenal.
Leeds: Robbie Keane from Inter, Robbie Fowler from Liverpool; Alan Maybury to Hearts.
Leicester: James Scowcroft from Ipswich, Ian Walker from Tottenham; Ade Akinbiyi to Crystal Palace.
Liverpool: Jerzy Dudek from Feyenoord, John Arne Riise from Monaco; Sander Westerveld to Real Sociedad.
Manchester United: Juan Sebastian Veron from Lazio, Diego Forlan from Independiente; Jaap Stam to Lazio.
Middlesbrough: Gareth Southgate from Aston Villa, Jonathan Greening from Manchester United; Christian Karembeu to Olympiakos.
Newcastle: Craig Bellamy from Coventry, Laurent Robert from Paris SG; Robert Lee to Derby.
Southampton: Rory Delap from Derby, Fabrice Fernandes from Rennes; Dean Richards to Tottenham.
Sunderland: Lilian Laslandes from Bordeuax, Claudio Reyna from Rangers; Don Hutchison to West Ham.
Tottenham: Christian Ziege from Liverpool, Goran Bunjevcevic from Red Star; Sol Campbell to Arsenal − free.
West Ham: Tomas Repka from Fiorentina, Sebastian Schemmel from Metz; Svetoslav Todorov to Portsmouth.
Other statistics
• Only seven hat-tricks were scored during the season in the Premiership. Robbie Fowler chalked up two for different clubs, Liverpool and then Leeds.
• From August 25 to May 8, when Arsenal clinched the championship crown, there were 27 changes at the top of the Premiership. Bolton, who finished on the same number of points as third relegation side Sunderland, led the way in August and September.
• Leicester City knew their relegation fate early... they went down on April 6, with four matches still to go.
• Bobby Robson earned two managerial awards for Newcastle − in December and February. Phil Thompson, of Liverpool, had also gathered the prize twice, yet on one occasion, in March, he had to share the award with Gerard Houllier.
• Manchester United had Van Nistelrooy (twice) winning the monthly award. Arsenal had Dennis Bergkamp (March) and Fredrik Ljungberg (April) among the winners.
• Bolton had the most sendings-off with seven red cards.
Individual awards
PFA Player of the Year: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United).
PFA Young Player of the Year: Craig Bellamy (Newcastle).
Football Writers Footballer of the Year: Robert Pires (Arsenal).
Manager of the Year: Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).
European Footballer of the Year: Michael Owen (Liverpool).