The emergence of Mourinho's Chelsea

In season 2004-05, Chelsea became the fourth team to win the title since the inauguration of the Premier League in 1992-93.

Jose Mourinho's appointment as coach brought about massive changes at the club backed by Russian magnate Roman Abramovich. Arsenal, the defending champions, finished runners-up behind Chelsea and, for only the second time since the birth of the Premiership, Manchester United failed to finish in the top two as they had to settle for third place.

In their centenary year, and 50 years after they had won their only championship, Chelsea secured the title with three matches to spare as Mourinho became the first coach to claim the Premiership crown in his first season in charge.

The outspoken Portuguese drew criticism from the first day he set foot in London.

Yet, he silenced his doubters by leading Chelsea to the title in style. The media, however, welcomed Mourinho with open arms. With him around, they had something new to write about almost on a daily basis.

Mourinho was like a breath of fresh air to the Premiership and, despite his relatively young age, he showed that he was up there with the world's greats in coaching techniques and abilities.

Winning the championship and League Cup is every coach's dream in his first season with a new club in England.

Chelsea also came close to equalling Arsenal's undefeated record in one season but lost one match at Manchester City. They completed the season with a record 29 wins and 95 points.

Indeed, some Chelsea fans thought the 50-year wait for the title was worthwhile, considering the emphatic manner with which their team had claimed the crown.

Another chapter in the champions' annals was written as Chelsea conceded only 15 goals that season, the lowest since the English game was formed in 1888.

Transfers

Arsenal: Robin van Persie from Feyenoord, Manuel Almunia from Celta Vigo; Giovanni van Bronckhorst to Barcelona.

Aston Villa: Martin Laursen from Milan, Mathieu Berson from Nantes; Peter Crouch to Southampton.

Birmingham: Emile Heskey from Liverpool, Jesper Gronkjaer from Chelsea; Darren Purse to West Brom.

Blackburn: Robbie Savage from Birmingham, Morten Gamst Pedersen from Tromso; Dwight Yorke to Birmingham.

Bolton: Gary Speed from Newcastle, Vincent Candela from Roma; Emerson Thome to Wigan.

Charlton: Dennis Rommedahl from PSV Eindhoven, Danny Murphy from Liverpool; Claus Jensen to Fulham.

Chelsea: Didier Drogba from Marseille, Ricardo Carvalho from Porto; Boudewijn Zenden to Middlesbrough.

Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni from Dundee, Fitz Hall from Southampton; Julian Gray to Birmingham.

Everton: Tim Cahill from Millwall, Mikel Arteta from Real Sociedad; Wayne Rooney to Manchester United.

Fulham: Tomasz Radzinski from Everton, Papa Bouba Diop from Lens; Steve Marlet to Marseille.

Liverpool: Djibril Cisse from Auxerre, Luis Garcia from Barcelona; Michael Owen to Real Madrid.

Manchester City: Kiki Musampa from Atletico Madrid, Danny Mills from Leeds; Paulo Wanchope to Malaga.

Manchester United: Alan Smith from Leeds, Gabriel Heinze from Paris St Germain; Nicky Butt to Newcastle.

Middlesbrough: Mark Viduka from Leeds, Ray Parlour from Arsenal; Juninho to Celtic.

Newcastle: James Milner from Leeds, Charles N'Zogbia from Le Havre; Jonathan Woodgate to Real Madrid.

Norwich: Youssef Safri from Coventry, Gary Doherty from Tottenham; Malky Mackay to West Ham.

Portsmouth: Lomano LuaLua from Newcastle, Ricardo Fuller from Preston; Teddy Sheringham to West Ham.

Southampton: Nigel Quashie from Portsmouth, Olivier Bernard from Newcastle; James Beattie to Everton.

Tottenham: Paul Robinson from Leeds, Michael Carrick from West Ham; Helder Postiga to Porto.

West Bromwich: Jonathan Greening from Middlesbrough, Zoltan Gera from Ferencvaros; Sean Gregan to Leeds.

Other statistics

• Only eight hat-tricks were registered in the Premier League in 2004-05 − two of which bore the signature of Arsenal's Thierry Henry. Chelsea succeeded in chalking up only one treble, thanks to Eidur Gudjohnsen

• Arsenal led the classification until August 25. Then Chelsea took over and remained top till they were crowned champions on April 30 with three matches to play.

• Southampton, one of the founder members of the Premier League, were relegated on the last day of the campaign.

• Jose Mourinho won the managerial award on two occasions as did Harry Redknapp − in October for Portsmouth and in March for Southampton.

• Chelsea dominated in the award for best players, winning on four occasions through Arjen Robben, John Terry, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard.

• Chelsea recorded 12 doubles in the Premier League, followed by Arsenal with 10.

• The club with the most sendings-off were Fulham - eight. Chelsea also had the platonic honour of being the only club not to have a player sent off all season.

Individual awards
PFA Player of the Year: John Terry (Chelsea).
PFA Young Player of the Year: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).
Football Writers Footballer of the Year: Frank Lampard (Chelsea).
Manager of the Year: Jose Mourinho (Chelsea).