won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season. Second in the league were Manchester United in their first full season under the management of Alex Ferguson. Nottingham Forest finished an impressive third after three seasons of mediocrity. Defending champions Everton finished fourth after manager Howard Kendall left to take over of Atletico Bilbao in Spain, handing over the reins at Goodison Park to his assistant Colin Harvey. QPR finished an impressive fifth after battling relegation the previous season. Arsenal dipped two places below the previous season's finish to occupy sixth place in the final table, and suffered a shock defeat to Luton Town in the final of the Football League Cup. Wimbledon, in only their second season in the First Division, complemented their shock FA Cup triumph over Liverpool by finishing an impressive seventh in the league. Tottenham Hotspur, who had made a serious challenge for all three major domestic trophies the previous season, endured a disappointing season with a lack of goals in the league dragging them down to 13th place. Manager David Pleat resigned in controversial circumstances in October 1987 and was replaced by Terry Venables. The automatically-relegated sides were Watford, Oxford United and Portsmouth. Chelsea were subsequently relegated as well after losing to Middlesbrough in the playoff final, just two years after they had been contenders for the league title. The top eight teams also qualified for the Football League Centenary Trophy.
First Division results
First Division maps
Second Division">Football League Second Division">Second Division
lifted the Second Division championship trophy and gained promotion to the First Division for the first time in their history. Runners-up were Aston Villa, managed by Graham Taylor. Middlesbrough won promotion for the second season running after negotiating the relegation/promotion play-offs at the expense of Chelsea. Huddersfield Town, who suffered a 10-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City, were relegated. The Second/Third Division relegation/promotion play-offs saw Sheffield United relegated.
The team fourth from bottom of the First Division played off for one place in that division with the teams finishing third, fourth and fifth in the Second Division. In the semi-final, Chelsea of the First Division beat fifth-placed Blackburn Rovers 6–1 on aggregate, and third-placed Middlesbrough beat Bradford City 3–2 on aggregate. The final was also played over two legs. Playing at their Ayresome Park ground in front of a crowd of 25,531, Middlesbrough duly won the first leg 2–0 with goals from Bernie Slaven and Trevor Senior. In the second leg at Stamford Bridge, which was marred by violence perpetrated by some of the 40,550 spectators, Chelsea's Gordon Durie scored the only goal. Thus Middlesbrough won 2–1 on aggregate and were promoted to the First Division for 1988–89, while Chelsea were relegated to the Second. Source:
Second Division results
Third Division">Football League Third Division">Third Division
