The three other English clubs progressed through the group stages, with Bolton Wanderers losing to Sporting CP, while Tottenham Hotspur and Everton were both eliminated on penalty shootouts in the round of 16, by PSV Eindhoven and Fiorentina respectively.

The title was decided on the final day of the season as United's 2–0 win at Wigan Athletic saw them crowned champions and consigned Chelsea to the runners-up spot regardless of their result at home to Bolton Wanderers.

The biggest story however was Leicester City's relegation, as a lack of stability at the club (with no fewer than eight men, including caretakers, occupying the manager's seat over the season) proved their undoing and sent them down to the third tier for the first time in their history.

In terms of results, Leeds United were actually the best team behind Swansea, but had started the season on –15 points following their failure to reach an agreement with HM Revenue & Customs on their Creditors Voluntary Arrangement.

Doncaster Rovers won promotion to the Championship by beating Leeds 1–0 at Wembley Stadium in the League One play-off final, thus returning to the top two tiers for the first time since 1958.

At the opposite end of the table, Port Vale were in fact the worst team going by results, but Luton Town went into administration and were deducted ten points causing them to finish bottom, though they would have been relegated even without this penalty.

2 July 2007: Manchester United shell out a combined total of £30 million for Brazilian midfielder Anderson (from Porto) and Portuguese winger Nani (from Sporting CP).

15 August 2007: Long-serving Aston Villa defender Mark Delaney retires from playing at the age of 31 after failing to fully recover from a succession of injuries.

25 August 2007: Ray Jones, 18-year-old Queens Park Rangers striker, dies in a car crash in east London which claims the lives of two other people.

Everton, Arsenal and Newcastle United complete the top seven while Bolton Wanderers, Fulham and Derby County make up the relegation zone.

13 September 2007: Gary Megson, former West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest manager, ends his 18-month exile from football to take over at Leicester City.

In the Championship, Watford and Charlton Athletic, relegated from the Premiership last season, are pushing for an immediate return to the top flight and stand first and third respectively, sandwiching West Bromwich Albion.

14 December 2007: Fabio Capello, 61-year-old Italian who has achieved great success with several top European clubs, accepts an offer from The Football Association (FA) to take charge of the England team.

Norwich have escaped the relegation zone after a good run of results and their local rivals Colchester now prop up the table, along with Sheffield Wednesday and Preston.

The West London club are ten points clear of fourth-placed Everton, who, along with Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool, are now competing for the final Champions League place.

29 April 2008: Tottenham Hotspur match their club record fee with a £16.5 million move for Dinamo Zagreb and Croatia midfielder Luka Modrić.

Derby have confirmed their 20th-place finish, but Fulham and Birmingham City are still hopeful of securing their top-flight survival at the expense of Reading, Bolton or Middlesbrough.

The Championship has one round of matches left to play: West Brom's superior goal difference makes it likely that they will be automatically promoted, barring a 12-goal swing in the favour of third placed Hull.

7 June 2008: Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick, 24, is involved in a car crash on the M6 motorway in Cheshire in which two children are killed and four other people are injured.

*Altrincham avoided relegation after Halifax Town went into liquidation England played their first international match on a synthetic pitch against Russia and lost the game 2–1,[99] leaving qualification for UEFA Euro 2008 out of their hands.

Manchester City went into the season with high expectations, with a new owner in Thaksin Shinawatra and a new manager in Sven-Göran Eriksson, alongside an influx of new talent, but finished 9th after suffering from inconsistent form at the turn of the year.

Newcastle welcomed the returning Kevin Keegan as manager after sacking Sam Allardyce, and while a winless run from Boxing Day left them four points off the relegation places in mid-March, the Magpies secured safety by winning four of their next seven games.

The departure of long-serving manager Steve Bruce and subsequent appointment of Alex McLeish meant that Birmingham were relegated after a single season back in the top flight.

Fulham narrowly survived on goal difference, seemingly dead and buried until the final few games, the appointment of Roy Hodgson, who returned to English football after nine years managing in Europe, saw significant improvement enabling them to escape the drop.

Leading goalscorer: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) – 31 West Bromwich Albion won the Championship title and sealed promotion to the Premier League after a two-year absence.

Wolverhampton Wanderers narrowly missed out on the play-offs on goal difference to a Watford side who actually led the league for most of the first half of the campaign but won just one of their last sixteen to sneak into the playoffs, with not even the arrival of top scorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake helping Wolves' cause.

Crystal Palace initially looked in danger of relegation until the appointment of Neil Warnock in October saw them climb the table and clinch a play-off spot at the expense of his old club Sheffield United.

Nottingham Forest moved back up to the Championship after a three-season absence, winning six of their last seven and snatching promotion from Doncaster Rovers on the final day.

Leeds United's record would have seen them promoted at the expense of Forest, but they were cost dear by a 15-point deduction that was imposed pre-season after their failure to agree a deal with their creditors almost resulted in the club being ejected from the Football League entirely.

Leading goalscorer: Jason Scotland (Swansea City) – 24 MK Dons won the League Two title, returning to the third tier after a two-season absence and earning their first major achievement in their four-year history.