The Defining Moments Of The 2007/08 Premier League Title Race

In football, defining moments are the difference between success and failure. Destiny can be traced back to the predominant moments that shaped it, and in these moments a season's story can be told.

As last season drew to a close, Premier League fans experienced the most closely-fought title showdown in many years. Heading into May three teams, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United, still had the opportunity to capture that most coveted of league trophies and embrace the glory synonymous with it.

Of course, we all know how it ended. Arsenal fell away as the finish line approached, and Manchester United pipped Chelsea to their 10th crowning glory and the Champions League trophy.

But only four points separated these top three teams in the Premier League.

Three teams who had taken points off of each other all season long. Three teams who had produced top-class performances in ways only they know how. Three teams who, again, showcased the very best that the Premier League has to offer. 

As the inquests started in newsrooms, television studios, and at radio stations all around the world as to where Chelsea and Arsenal went wrong, and how Manchester United got it right, one defining moment for each sticks out from the rest.

Arsenal's title challenge self-destructed at a windswept St. Andrews in late February. The sensational form they had displayed before Christmas had disappeared somewhat in the early weeks of 2008; clinical finishing was once again starting to evade them.

Arsenal fans were getting that all too familiar feeling of all style and no substance, yet the club was trundling forward, earning points from games in which they played below par.

Maybe Arsenal were learning how to play 'ugly.' Maybe this feeling of all style and no substance was actually no style and all substance.

Fans started to believe.

But in reality, even the most ardent Arsenal fan will admit that a twist was always expected. And the footballing gods duly obliged.

The unfortunate injury to Eduardo overshadowed the events of the match, but in hindsight, that match was probably Arsenal's most significant of the season.

Champions are made of stern stuff. What was required that day after the events in the opening minutes was for players to stand up and be counted on what was always going to be a tough early afternoon.

But in the first half they didn't; they shrunk. The first half was awful. Arsenal were shocked and Birmingham seized the opportunity.

McFadden struck a brilliant free kick mid-way through the first half, which left Almunia with no chance. As the halftime whistle blew, Arsenal were lucky to be going into the dressing room only one goal down.

After the interval, a different Arsenal emerged, an Arsenal that could have been champions. They seemed to put Eduardo's injury to the back of their minds, and they took the game to Birmingham. Their play was reminiscent of their early season master classes.

Shots rained in on Maik Taylor from all angles, and then Theo Walcott bounded to the fore with two quick-fire goals. One an instinctive flick, the other a superb low shot after a confident, purposeful run. Arsenal had turned the game on its head. 

As the game edged to a finish Arsenal attacked frequently on the break. As the clock ticked towards full time, both Adebayor and Bendtner beat a lacklustre Birmingham offside trap. Both clean through, all Adebayor had to do was square the ball for Bendtner to tap it in, 3-1. Job done.

But he never even looked at Bendtner. He just saw the goal. On for a record breaking ninth successive Premier League goal, Adebayor's eyes lit up. He was only ever going to shoot.

He did, and Taylor saved. With that, the chance of escaping from St. Andrew’s with all three points disappeared.

Birmingham gained confidence from the thunderous noise emanating from their fans. There is nothing fans of relegation-threatened teams like more than a scrap against the big boys. They pushed for the equaliser but never really created any significant chances. Arsenal's task was to just play out the three minutes of added-on time.

They failed. It was Arsenal's season-defining moment. A moment of sheer bizarreness from Clichy let in Parnaby and Clichy's seemingly innocuous challenge was deemed a foul by referee Mike Dean. Penalty.

It was the 91st minute and James McFadden had a chance to snatch a point that Birmingham, taking into account their first half display, probably deserved, but should never have had the opportunity to gain. He smashed it home. 30,000 bluenoses were delirious. Gallas fumed.

Arsenal never recovered. Several draws followed and Arsenal's inexperience had ultimately cost them dearly. Arsenal were helpless as both Manchester United and Chelsea clawed back the points deficit before overtaking them. The inevitability of it all was what hurt the most.

The defining moment of Chelsea's season could so easily have been Michael Ballack smashing in a winner from the penalty spot in the showdown of the top two at Stamford Bridge in late April. But it wasn't. That defeat didn't quite affect Manchester United in the way Chelsea had hoped.

Instead, the defining moment of Chelsea's season occurred in Moscow a few weeks later.

In the torrential rain at the Luzhniki Stadium, John Terry impatiently strode forward from the centre circle. All that separated him from his dream of putting his hands on the Champion's league trophy was one successful penalty; his successful penalty.

With a deep breath, he took four steps back, and then another for good measure. Hands on hips, he heard the whistle and approached the ball, but as he kicked, he slipped. The ball hit the post and veered wide. John Terry's dream disappeared into a nightmare reality.

Chelsea fans tried to comprehend the incomprehensible—the captain, the heart and soul of Chelsea Football Club, had missed. Nobody expected that.

The chance for ultimate club glory, that elusive Champions League trophy, was about to elude them once again. That single kick summed up Chelsea's season; so close, yet so far. Runners up in three competitions. Nobody remembers the losers.

Chelsea will intend to bounce back stronger than ever. Wounded animals are always the most dangerous, and the backlash could be frightening.

Where did Manchester United get it right? At the Riverside Stadium, in the midst of one of those now-regular March blizzards. If the 'changeable' weather (and I use that term in the extreme here) was to be expected that day, Manchester United's dire display wasn't.

In the weeks prior, United had been steamrolling their way through league games and parading, almost nonchalantly, towards the top of the league.

They almost came unstuck, though, against perennial upset kings, Middlesbrough.

Despite taking an early lead, United found themselves 2-1 down, and it could, and should, have been more.

However, they battled back. They altered the flow of a game which had, for a long period, been completely against them, and Rooney smashed in an equaliser.

They showed they had the desire, the hunger, and the determination to earn at least a point from a game in which they played poorly and should have lost. It was "the stuff of Champions," as Andy Gray would say.

And it was.

Manchester United didn't look back. A defeat here would have given Chelsea the advantage, but United kept their nerve and from then on never once let the destiny of where the title would end up be shaped by anyone but themselves.