Retro Fantasy Football

2003/04 Premier League fantasy football

Replay the 2003/04 Premier League as an old school fantasy football manager. Build a £100m squad from that season's 343 real players across 20 clubs, then play all 38 gameweeks and see how many points your 2003/04 XI can rack up. Thierry Henry is the season's most expensive pick at £11.5m.

Draft a squad from 2003/04

The 2003/04 title race

Arsenal won the 2003/04 title with 90 points, 11 points clear of Chelsea. They won 26, drew 12 and lost 0 of their 38 games, scoring 73 and conceding 26. Leicester, Leeds and Wolves were relegated. Thierry Henry took the scoring honours with 30 league goals.

  • Arsenal went the whole league season unbeaten, the only champions of any season from 1995/96 to 2024/25 to do so.

2003/04 Premier League final table

#ClubPWDLGFGAGDPts
1Arsenal38261207326+4790
2Chelsea3824776730+3779
3Manchester United3823696435+2975
4Liverpool381612105537+1860
5Newcastle38131785240+1256
6Aston Villa381511124844+456
7Charlton381411135151053
8Bolton381411134856-853
9Fulham381410145246+652
10Birmingham381214124348-550
11Middlesbrough38139164452-848
12Southampton381211154445-147
13Portsmouth38129174754-745
14Tottenham Hotspur38136194757-1045
15Blackburn38128185159-844
16Manchester City38914155554+141
17Everton38912174557-1239
18Leicester38615174865-1733
19Leeds3889214079-3933
20Wolves38712193877-3933

The bottom three were relegated. In the game, every result behind this table plays out as it really happened.

2003/04 top scorers

PlayerGoalsAssistsOur price
Thierry HenryArsenal306£11.5m
Alan ShearerNewcastle224£10.0m
Louis SahaFulham207£10.0m
Ruud van NistelrooyManchester United202£9.0m
Mikael ForssellBirmingham171£7.5m
Michael OwenLiverpool163£9.0m
Nicolas AnelkaManchester City164£8.0m
Juan Pablo ÁngelAston Villa160£7.5m
Yakubu AiyegbeniPortsmouth163£8.0m
Robert PirèsArsenal148£11.5m

2003/04 assist leaders

PlayerAssistsGoalsOur price
Muzzy IzzetLeicester142£7.0m
Paolo Di CanioCharlton124£7.0m
Ryan GiggsManchester United117£10.0m
Brett EmertonBlackburn112£6.5m
Steed MalbranqueFulham106£9.5m
Damien DuffChelsea95£9.0m
Kevin DaviesBolton99£7.5m
Robert PirèsArsenal814£11.5m
Gareth BarryAston Villa83£7.0m
Dennis BergkampArsenal74£6.5m

League goals and assists only. Players who moved clubs mid-season are listed under the club they played most for.

2003/04 best-value XI

A 5-3-2 that costs £61.0m at our prices, leaving room on a £100m budget for four substitutes.

PlayerPriceest. ptsPer £1m
Ian WalkerGoalkeeper · Leicester£4.5m11124.7
Lee NaylorDefender · Wolves£4.5m12026.7
Paul ButlerDefender · Wolves£4.5m11726.0
Iván CampoDefender · Bolton£5.5m14125.6
Gary KellyDefender · Leeds£4.5m11425.3
Sylvain DistinDefender · Manchester City£5.0m12625.2
Jermaine PennantMidfielder · Leeds£6.0m13622.7
Matt HollandMidfielder · Charlton£6.5m14722.6
Stephen ClemenceMidfielder · Birmingham£5.5m11821.5
Robbie KeaneForward · Tottenham Hotspur£7.0m16723.9
Kevin DaviesForward · Bolton£7.5m17723.6

The best return on our prices, using an estimate of fantasy points per £1m from real league stats and our scoring: 3 points per appearance, plus goals (10 for goalkeepers, 6 for defenders, 5 for midfielders, 4 for forwards) and 3 per assist. Clean sheets were not recorded per player in this era, so defenders and goalkeepers are ranked mostly on appearances. Players need at least 1,710 league minutes (half a season), and no more than three come from one club.

Most expensive players by position

The premium picks a £100m budget forces you to choose between in 2003/04.

Goalkeepers

  1. Tim HowardManchester United · 0 goals, 1 assist£6.0m
  2. Shay GivenNewcastle · 0 goals, 0 assists£6.0m
  3. Jens LehmannArsenal · 0 goals, 0 assists£6.0m

Defenders

  1. Brett EmertonBlackburn · 2 goals, 11 assists£6.5m
  2. Gilberto SilvaArsenal · 4 goals, 4 assists£6.5m
  3. Michael TarnatManchester City · 3 goals, 5 assists£6.0m

Midfielders

  1. Robert PirèsArsenal · 14 goals, 8 assists£11.5m
  2. Frank LampardChelsea · 10 goals, 5 assists£10.5m
  3. Ryan GiggsManchester United · 7 goals, 11 assists£10.0m

Forwards

  1. Thierry HenryArsenal · 30 goals, 6 assists£11.5m
  2. Louis SahaFulham · 20 goals, 7 assists£10.0m
  3. Alan ShearerNewcastle · 22 goals, 4 assists£10.0m

2003/04 on Retro Fantasy Football

98 managers have finished a 2003/04 season on our leaderboard (as of October 2026). The best scores so far:

  1. 2,204 pts
  2. 2,143 pts
  3. 2,120 pts
  4. 2,105 pts
  5. 2,100 pts

Points follow our scoring rules. Think you can beat them?

Draft a squad from 2003/04