1991–92 Football League First Division

Statistics of Football League First Division in the 1991–92 season.

Football League First Division

Season	1991–92
Champions	Leeds United (3rd English title)
Relegated	Luton Town Notts County West Ham United
Champions League	Leeds United
Cup Winners' Cup	Liverpool
UEFA Cup	Manchester United Sheffield Wednesday
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,166 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ian Wright (29 goals) [1]
Biggest home win	Arsenal 7–1 Sheffield Wednesday (15 February 1992)
Biggest away win	Sheffield Wednesday 1–6 Leeds United (12 January 1992)
Highest scoring	Oldham Athletic 3–6 Manchester United (26 December 1991)
Longest winning run	6 games Southampton
Longest unbeaten run	17 games Arsenal
Longest losing run	6 games Norwich City
← 1990–91 1992–93 Premier League →

Overview

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Aston Villa

Coventry

Everton

Leeds

Liverpool

Greater London

Luton Town

Man City

Man Utd

Norwich

Nottingham Forest

Notts County

Oldham

Sheffield U

Wednesday

Southampton

Locations of the Premier League 1992–93 teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

QPR

Tottenham Hotspur

Wimbledon

West Ham United

Greater London Premier League football clubs

Leeds United won the last ever league championship before the Premier League was born, thanks to the efforts of players like Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty and Gary McAllister. On 26 April 1992, Leeds beat Sheffield United 3–2 at Bramall Lane and with the news that their challengers Manchester United lost 2–0 to Liverpool at Anfield, it confirmed them as champions.

Newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday, who were quickly emerging as one of the most feared sides in England finished in third and secured UEFA Cup qualification.

The previous season's defending champions Arsenal slipped to 4th place and never made a serious threat to retain their title. The previous season’s runners-up Liverpool slipped to 6th in their first full season under the management of Graeme Souness, although they did win the FA Cup. Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton finished a disappointing 12th - a three-place setback on their finish the previous season.

Newly promoted West Ham United were relegated in bottom place. On 25 April 1992, West Ham's relegation was confirmed when they lost 1–0 at Coventry City. This win for Coventry also relegated Notts County — another newly promoted side — rendering their 2–0 defeat at Manchester City on the same day as academic. The last day of the season saw Luton Town lose their top flight status after ten seasons. They needed to win at Notts County and for Coventry to lose at Aston Villa. Coventry did lose 2–0 at Villa Park but unfortunately for Luton, they lost 2–1 which kept Coventry up and sent Luton down. Seventeen years later The Hatters would fall into the Conference (the 5th level of the English football system), while Notts County fell into it 10 years after them.

For much of the season, Southampton's 21-year-old striker Alan Shearer was the target of much media speculation about a move to a leading First Division club. The likes of Liverpool and Manchester United were strongly linked with his signature during the autumn, but Shearer decided to stay put on the south coast before making a decision about his future at the end of the season. Shearer was capped for the senior England side for the first time in February 1992, and scored on his debut. Another English striker who established himself as a top scorer at this level this season was the Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst, who had actually played in the First Division as long ago as 1986, but was now on the fringes of the England national team after scoring the goals that helped the Owls win the League Cup and an instant return to the First Division in 1990-91, and finishing among the First Division's leading scorers in 1991-92.

Manchester United's teenage winger Ryan Giggs, who had played twice for the first team the previous season, received plaudits for his outstanding performances and picked up the PFA Young Player of the Year award as well as a League Cup winner's medal, establishing himself as a regular player before his 18th birthday. Other young players who made the headlines this season were Liverpool's teenage winger Steve McManaman and new signing Rob Jones, Aston Villa's Trinidadian striker Dwight Yorke and Nottingham Forest midfielder Roy Keane.

As a wave of new names began to dominate the English game, Tottenham Hotspur's high scoring striker Gary Lineker announced in November that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season to sign for the Japanese side Grampus Eight, and also confirmed his decision to retire from the England team after the European championships that summer.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Aston Villa	Jozef Vengloš	Mutual consent	28 May 1991	Pre-season	Ron Atkinson	8 June 1991
Queens Park Rangers	Don Howe	Sacked	31 May 1991		Gerry Francis	1 June 1991
Tottenham Hotspur	Terry Venables	Became general manager	1 June 1991		Peter Shreeves	1 June 1991
Sheffield Wednesday	Ron Atkinson	Signed by Aston Villa	8 June 1991		Trevor Francis	8 June 1991
Luton Town	Jim Ryan	Sacked	13 June 1991		David Pleat	15 June 1991
Wimbledon	Ray Harford	Signed by Blackburn Rovers	7 October 1991	14th	Peter Withe	10 October 1991
Coventry City	Terry Butcher	Sacked	6 January 1992	17th	Don Howe	7 January 1992
Wimbledon	Peter Withe	Sacked	19 January 1992	22nd	Joe Kinnear	19 January 1992
Norwich City	Dave Stringer	Resigned	1 May 1992	18th	David Williams	1 May 1992

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leeds United (C)	42	13	8	0	38	13	9	8	4	36	24	+37	82	Qualified for Champions League
2	Manchester United	42	12	7	2	34	13	9	8	4	29	20	+30	78	League Cup winners, qualified for UEFA Cup
3	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	5	3	39	24	8	7	6	23	25	+13	75	Qualified for UEFA Cup
4	Arsenal	42	12	7	2	51	23	7	8	6	30	24	+34	72
5	Manchester City	42	13	4	4	32	14	7	6	8	29	34	+13	70
6	Liverpool	42	13	5	3	34	17	3	11	7	13	23	+7	64	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
7	Aston Villa	42	13	3	5	31	16	4	6	11	17	28	+4	60
8	Nottingham Forest	42	10	7	4	36	27	6	4	11	24	31	+2	59
9	Sheffield United	42	9	6	6	29	23	7	3	11	36	40	+2	57
10	Crystal Palace	42	7	8	6	24	25	7	7	7	29	36	−8	57
11	Queens Park Rangers	42	6	10	5	25	21	6	8	7	23	26	+1	54
12	Everton	42	8	8	5	28	19	5	6	10	24	32	+1	53
13	Wimbledon	42	10	5	6	32	20	3	9	9	21	33	0	53
14	Chelsea	42	7	8	6	31	30	6	6	9	19	30	−10	53
15	Tottenham Hotspur	42	7	3	11	33	35	8	4	9	25	28	−5	52
16	Southampton	42	7	5	9	17	28	7	5	9	22	27	−16	52
17	Oldham Athletic	42	11	5	5	46	36	3	4	14	17	31	−4	51
18	Norwich City	42	8	6	7	29	28	3	6	12	18	35	−16	45
19	Coventry City	42	6	7	8	18	15	5	4	12	17	29	−9	44
20	Luton Town	42	10	7	4	25	17	0	5	16	14	54	−32	42	Relegated
21	Notts County	42	7	5	9	24	29	3	5	13	16	33	−22	40
22	West Ham United	42	6	6	9	22	24	3	5	13	15	35	−22	38

Source:
(C) League Champions.

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	CHE	COV	CRY	EVE	LEE	LIV	LUT	MCI	MUN	NWC	NOT	NTC	OLD	QPR	SHU	SHW	SOU	TOT	WHU	WDN
Arsenal		0–0	3–2	1–2	4–1	4–2	1–1	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–3	2–0	2–1	1–1	5–2	7–1	5–1	2–0	0–1	1–1
Aston Villa	3–1		3–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–4	1–0	4–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	3–1	2–1
Chelsea	1–1	2–0		0–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–2	4–1	1–1	1–3	0–3	1–0	2–2	4–2	2–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–2
Coventry City	0–1	1–0	0–1		1–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	5–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–1
Crystal Palace	1–4	0–0	0–0	0–1		2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–3	3–4	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–3	3–2
Everton	3–1	0–2	2–1	3–0	2–2		1–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	3–1	4–0	2–0
Leeds United	2–2	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–0		1–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	4–3	1–1	3–3	1–1	0–0	5–1
Liverpool	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	0–0		2–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–3
Luton Town	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–0		2–2	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–1
Manchester City	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	3–2	0–1	4–0	2–1	4–0		0–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	3–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–0
Manchester United	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	5–0	1–1		3–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–4	2–0	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–1	0–0
Norwich City	1–3	2–1	0–1	3–2	3–3	4–3	2–2	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–3		0–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–1
Nottingham Forest	3–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	5–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0		1–1	3–1	1–1	2–5	0–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	4–2
Notts County	0–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–3	0–0	2–4	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	0–4		2–0	0–1	1–3	2–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	1–1
Oldham Athletic	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–1	2–3	2–2	2–0	2–3	5–1	2–5	3–6	2–2	2–1	4–3		2–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	0–1
Queens Park Rangers	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	4–1	0–0	2–1	4–0	0–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–3		1–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–1
Sheffield United	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–3	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	4–2	1–2	1–0	4–2	1–3	2–0	0–0		2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–0
Sheffield Wednesday	1–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–6	0–0	3–2	2–0	3–2	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–3		2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0
Southampton	0–4	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–4	1–1	2–1	0–3	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–4	0–1		2–3	1–0	1–0
Tottenham Hotspur	1–1	2–5	1–3	4–3	0–1	3–3	1–3	1–2	4–1	0–1	1–2	3–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	0–2	1–2		3–0	3–2
West Ham United	0–2	3–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–3	0–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	4–0	3–0	0–2	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	2–1		1–1
Wimbledon	1–3	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	1–2	3–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	3–0	2–1	0–1	3–5	2–0

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ian Wright	Crystal Palace/Arsenal	29
2	Gary Lineker	Tottenham Hotspur	28
3	John Fashanu	Wimbledon	18
	David Hirst	Sheffield Wednesday
	Brian McClair	Manchester United
	David White	Manchester City
7	Mark Bright	Crystal Palace	17
8	Lee Chapman	Leeds United	16
9	Peter Beardsley	Everton	15
10	Robbie Earle	Wimbledon	14

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Carlton Palmer	Sheffield Wednesday	Queens Park Rangers	4–1 (H)	31 August 1991
Peter Beardsley	Everton	Coventry City	3–0 (H)	21 September 1991
Gary Lineker (4)	Tottenham Hotspur	Wimbledon	5–3 (A)	21 September 1991
Ian Wright	Arsenal	Southampton	4–0 (A)	28 September 1991
Tony Cottee	Everton	Tottenham Hotspur	3–1 (H)	5 October 1991
Ian Wright (4)	Arsenal	Everton	4–2 (H)	21 December 1991
Dennis Bailey	Queens Park Rangers	Manchester United	4–1 (A)	1 January 1992	[2]
Lee Chapman	Leeds United	Sheffield Wednesday	6–1 (A)	12 January 1992
Lee Chapman	Leeds United	Wimbledon	5–1 (H)	14 March 1992
Darren Beckford	Norwich City	Everton	4–3 (H)	21 March 1992
Gordon Durie	Tottenham Hotspur	Coventry City	4–3 (H)	28 March 1992
Gary Lineker	Tottenham Hotspur	West Ham United	3–0 (H)	1 April 1992
Paul Merson	Arsenal	Crystal Palace	4–1 (H)	11 April 1992
Graeme Sharp (4)	Oldham Athletic	Luton Town	5–1 (H)	11 April 1992
David White	Manchester City	Oldham Athletic	5–2 (A)	2 May 1992
Ian Wright	Arsenal	Southampton	5–1 (H)	2 May 1992
Frank McAvennie	West Ham United	Nottingham Forest	3–0 (H)	2 May 1992

Note: (H) – Home; (A) – Away

References

1. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
2. Hat-trick hero still going strong, BBC Sport, 3 February 2006

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