Arsenal were the favourites to defend their title after finishing the
previous season unbeaten, but they also faced competition in the form of regular challengers Manchester United and Chelsea, the latter under the new management of Portuguese
José Mourinho, who had just won the
UEFA Champions League with
Porto. Liverpool also had a new manager in Spaniard
Rafael Benítez, who had just won
La Liga and the
UEFA Cup with
Valencia and were expected to challenge for the title too. Another managerial change at a club aiming for the top was at Tottenham Hotspur, who appointed
Jacques Santini, who had just led
France to the quarter-finals of
the 2004 European Championship. At the other end of the table, amongst those tipped for relegation were Norwich City, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion, having all just been promoted from the First Division (rebranded this season as the Championship). Everton, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth were also tipped to struggle, the first three finishing just outside the relegation places the previous season and Portsmouth being in their second season. Arsenal's record-breaking unbeaten streak of 49 games ended on 24 October 2004, when Manchester United
beat them 2–0 at
Old Trafford.
Relegation For the first time since the advent of the Premier League in 1992, no team was relegated before the final day of the season. In each of the last three weekends of the season, the team that was bottom of the table at the start of the weekend finished it outside the drop zone. The final round of the season began with
West Bromwich Albion at the bottom,
Southampton and
Crystal Palace one point ahead and
Norwich City a further point ahead, in the last safe spot. West Brom, who had been bottom of the table and eight points from safety on Christmas Day, did their part by beating
Portsmouth 2–0. Norwich, the only side to have their fate completely in their own hands, lost 6–0 to
Fulham and went down. Southampton took the lead against
Manchester United within 10 minutes through a
John O'Shea own goal, but ultimately lost the match 2–1 and were also relegated. Crystal Palace, away to
Charlton Athletic, were leading 2–1 after 71 minutes, but with eight minutes to go,
Jonathan Fortune equalised for Charlton to send their South East London rivals down. Had Palace won they would have stayed up; instead they became the first team to be relegated from the Premier League four times. As a result, West Brom stayed up, becoming the first club in Premier League history to avoid relegation after being bottom of the table at Christmas. As all four matches ended, cameras focused on West Brom's home ground,
The Hawthorns, as confirmation of other results began to filter through. Once the realisation dawned on the players and fans that survival had been achieved, a mass
pitch invasion was sparked, with huge celebrations. The Portsmouth fans joined in the celebrations as, through losing, they had "helped" relegate arch-rivals Southampton. ==Teams==