London clubs claim record third title in a row

Chelsea retained the Premier League crown in season 2005-06.

After having to wait 50 years to claim the title again, the Blues' fans sported a wide grin in May 2006 as their favourites had made it twice in successive seasons.

The Premier League title, thus, had remained in London for a third year running as Arsenal were champions in 2003-04.

This was a unique feat for clubs for the capital. The last time that Londoners had kept the championship title for three years running was in the early 1930s, when Arsenal claimed a hat-trick of honours in 1932-33, 1933-34 and 1934-35.

Jose Mourinho succeeded in steering Chelsea to another championship, claiming back-to-back titles after leading the way from the earliest matches in August.

Sequel to their resounding 3-0 win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge towards the end of April, Chelsea had claimed the title at almost the same time as the season before when they clinched it with three matches to spare, enjoying a superior goal difference on their rivals.

Skipper Frank Lampard led Chelsea to the top step of the podium by becoming the best midfield scorer in a season in the Premiership. His 17 goals surpassed the previous feats of Arsenal's Robert Pires and Manchester United's Paul Scholes.

At the end of season 2005-06, the west London outfit had become only the fourth club to chalk up successive championships since the turn of the 1950s, following in the trail set by Manchester United, Liverpool and Wolves.

Mourinho, the first coach to win the title in his debut season, went on to add further glory to his achievement. Since taking over at Stamford Bridge, the Blues had not lost at home in 42 games over two seasons.

Transfers

Arsenal: Alexander Hleb from Stuttgart, Emmanuel Adebayor from Monaco; Patrick Vieira to Juventus.

Aston Villa: Milan Baros from Liverpool, Kevin Phillips from Southampton; Darius Vassell to Manchester City.

Birmingham: Walter Pandiani from Real Zaragoza, Mikael Forssell from Chelsea; Robbie Blake to Leeds.

Blackburn: Craig Bellamy from Newcastle, David Bentley from Arsenal; Jon Stead to Sunderland.

Bolton: El-Hadji Diouf from Liverpool, Jared Borgetti from Pachuca; Vincent Candela to Udinese.

Charlton: Darren Bent from Ipswich, Darren Ambrose from Newcastle; Paul Konchesky to West Ham.

Chelsea: Lassana Diarra from Le Havre, Michael Essien from Lyon, Scott Parker to Newcastle.

Everton: Phil Neville from Manchester United, Mikel Arteta from Real Sociedad; Marcus Bent to Charlton.

Fulham: Niclas Jensen from Borussia Dortmund, Michael Brown from Tottenham; Liam Fontaine to Bristol City.

Liverpool: Jose Reina from Villarreal, Peter Crouch from Southampton; Antonio Nunez to Celta Vigo.

Man. City: Andy Cole from Fulham, Georgios Samaras from Heerenveen, Shaun Wright-Phillips to Chelsea.

Man. United: Edwin van der Sar from Fulham, Nemanja Vidic from Spartak Moscow; Roy Keane to Celtic.

Middlesbrough: Yakubu Aiyegbeni from Portsmouth, Fabio Rochemback from Barcelona; Boudewijn Zenden to Liverpool.

Newcastle: Michael Owen from Real Madrid, Albert Luque from Deportivo; Jermaine Jenas to Tottenham.

Portsmouth: John Viafara from Once Caldas, Benjani Mwaruwari from Auxerre; Patrik Berger to Aston Villa.

Sunderland: Andy Gray from Sheffield United, Rory Delap from Southampton; Alan Stubbs to Everton.

Tottenham: Edgar Davids from Inter, Aaron Lennon from Leeds; Fredi Kanoute to Sevilla.

West Brom: Nathan Ellington from Wigan, Curtis Davies from Luton; Rob Hulse to Leeds.

West Ham: Danny Gabbidon from Cardiff, Shaka Hislop from Portsmouth; Tomas Repka to Sparta Prague.

Wigan: Damien Francis from Norwich, David Connolly from Leicester; Nicky Eaden to Nottm Forest.

Other statistics

• Ex-Liverpool strikers Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler scored hat-tricks for Newcastle and Manchester City (in FA Cup), respectively. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) was the only player to net two trebles throughout the campaign. While in the previous season only eight hat-tricks were registered, in 2005-06 seven trebles were claimed in the Premier League.

• After three matches Chelsea took over at the summit from Manchester City and remained there to the finish.

• Sunderland were the first club to occupy the bottom position and were sure of relegation on April 14 with five matches still to play.

•Paul Jewell, of Wigan, and Rafa Benitez won the managerial awards twice each. On the players' side, the monthly prize was grabbed twice by Wayne Rooney. Charlton had two different players, Darren Bent and Danny Murphy, winning the accolade.

• Chelsea and Liverpool registered ten doubles apiece, followed by Manchester United on nine.

• Birmingham and Everton had seven players dismissed with Phil Neville getting a red card twice for the Toffees.

Individual awards

PFA Player of the Year: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) for the second year running.

Football Writers Footballer of the Year: Thierry Henry (Arsenal).

Manager of the Year: Jose Mourinho (Chelsea).