On 22 November 2009, Tottenham Hotspur recorded their record Premier League victory, beating Wigan 9-1 with five goals from striker Jermain Defoe.
Nobody would have predicted that score at half time. After going up 1-0 with a 9th-minute header from Peter Crouch, Spurs seemed to lose focus and created few other chances in the first half. As manager Harry Redknapp said later, "they needed reminding at the break."
Whatever he said to remind them must have worked, as the goals began to flow soon after the restart. Defoe netted his first of the day in the 51st minute, followed by his second just three minutes later, and his third just four minutes after that. Then, after a goal from Aaron Lennon (64'), Defoe added two more (69', 87'). Spurs finished the scoring with late goals from David Bentley (88') and Niko Kranjčar (94'). Meanwhile, Wigan's lone goal came from Paul Scharner in the 57th minute.
It was Tottenham's biggest margin of victory in a top-flight match and pushed them back into fourth place, behind Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal, which is how the final table appeared. Defoe's haul made him only the third player to score five in a Premier League match (after Alan Shearer and Andy Cole).
On 21 November 2007, the final day of qualification for Euro 2008, Croatia defeated England, 2-3, before a rain-soaked crowd of 88,000 in London's Wembley Stadium. The loss eliminated England from the tournament and sealed the fate of England manager Steve McClaren.
England started the day in second place in Group E on 23 points. They were three points behind leaders Croatia, who had already booked their place in the tournament, and two points ahead of third-place Russia, who were facing last-place Andorra.
England had lost to Croatia 2-0 in Zagreb, but were hoping for a better result at home, despite missing several key players, including forward Wayne Rooney and all four players from their preferred back line. The available personnel forced McLaren to change the formation from a 4-4-2 to a 4-1-4-1, with Peter Crouch playing as the lone striker.
England's hopes took a blow in the 8th minute, as Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjčar found the back of the net with a 25-yard shot that was helped past keeper Scott Carson by a tricky bounce off the wet pitch. Ivica Olić doubled the visitors' lead in the 14th minute as a precision pass by forward Eduardo da Silva beat the English defense and allowed Olić to walk the ball into an open goal.
England entered the second half to a chorus of boos and jeers from the home fans, but soon gave them something to cheer when Jermain Defoe won a penalty which Frank Lampard converted in the 56th minute. Peter Crouch equalized nine minutes later with a goal from a David Beckham pass.
As it turned out, a draw would have been enough to see England through on goal differential, but it did not last. Croatian substitute forward Mladen Petrić (pictured), who had replaced Eduardo in the 69th minute, beat Carson with a 25-yard stunner in the 77th minute. England were unable to find another equalizer and conceded all three points to Croatia.
Russia, as expected, beat Andorra and moved into second place in the group, dropping England into third and out of the tournament. The FA terminated McClaren's contract the next day after only 18 matches in 16 months, making his time in charge of the national team the shortest of any England manager.
On 29 December 2007, Reading played in the second of the Premier League's two highest-scoring games, losing both.
The first was a 7-4 defeat to Portsmouth on 29 September that beat the previous record of nine goals set by Southampton's 4-5 win over Norwich in April 1994. The loss dropped the Royals into seventeenth place in the Premier League table, but they fought their way back into twelfth before traveling to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham two months later.
There, they conceded an early goal to Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov (pictured) in the seventh minute, but equalized nine minutes later through midfielder Kalifa Cissé. In the second half, Reading pulled ahead with a 53rd-minute goal from Ívar Ingimarsson, but Berbatov scored again ten minutes later to make it 2-2.
Berbatov scored a third (73') in between a brace from Reading's Dave Kitson (69', 74') and Reading led 3-4. But a late onslaught from Spurs saw goals from Steed Malbranque (76'), Jermain Defoe (79'), and a fourth from Berbatov (83') as the hosts won 6-4 to hit the second-highest scoring mark since the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The overall English record, however, was set at 17 when Tranmere Rovers beat Oldham Athletic 13-4 in the Third Division South in 1935.
Although Reading dropped only one spot in the table after the loss to Spurs, it was the first of eight consecutive league losses, a run that pushed them down to 18th by the end of February, which is where they ended up in the final table. Although level on points with Fulham, Reading were the ones relegated, separated from safety by a goal differential of -25 to Fulham's -22.
On 22 November 2009, Tottenham Hotspur recorded their record Premier League victory, beating Wigan 9-1 with five goals from striker Jermain Defoe.
Nobody would have predicted that score at half time. After going up 1-0 with a 9th-minute header from Peter Crouch, Spurs seemed to lose focus and created few other chances in the first half. As manager Harry Redknapp said later, "they needed reminding at the break."
Whatever he said to remind them must have worked, as the goals began to flow soon after the restart. Defoe netted his first of the day in the 51st minute, followed by his second just three minutes later, and his third just four minutes after that. Then, after a goal from Aaron Lennon (64'), Defoe added two more (69', 87'). Spurs finished the scoring with late goals from David Bentley (88') and Niko Kranjčar (94'). Meanwhile, Wigan's lone goal came from Paul Scharner in the 57th minute.
It was Tottenham's biggest margin of victory in a top-flight match and pushed them back into fourth place, behind Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal, which is how the final table appeared. Defoe's haul made him only the third player to score five in a Premier League match (after Alan Shearer and Andy Cole).
On 21 November 2007, the final day of qualification for Euro 2008, Croatia defeated England, 2-3, before a rain-soaked crowd of 88,000 in London's Wembley Stadium. The loss eliminated England from the tournament and sealed the fate of England manager Steve McClaren.
England started the day in second place in Group E on 23 points. They were three points behind leaders Croatia, who had already booked their place in the tournament, and two points ahead of third-place Russia, who were facing last-place Andorra.
England had lost to Croatia 2-0 in Zagreb, but were hoping for a better result at home, despite missing several key players, including forward Wayne Rooney and all four players from their preferred back line. The available personnel forced McLaren to change the formation from a 4-4-2 to a 4-1-4-1, with Peter Crouch playing as the lone striker.
England's hopes took a blow in the 8th minute, as Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjčar found the back of the net with a 25-yard shot that was helped past keeper Scott Carson by a tricky bounce off the wet pitch. Ivica Olić doubled the visitors' lead in the 14th minute as a precision pass by forward Eduardo da Silva beat the English defense and allowed Olić to walk the ball into an open goal.
England entered the second half to a chorus of boos and jeers from the home fans, but soon gave them something to cheer when Jermain Defoe won a penalty which Frank Lampard converted in the 56th minute. Peter Crouch equalized nine minutes later with a goal from a David Beckham pass.
As it turned out, a draw would have been enough to see England through on goal differential, but it did not last. Croatian substitute forward Mladen Petrić (pictured), who had replaced Eduardo in the 69th minute, beat Carson with a 25-yard stunner in the 77th minute. England were unable to find another equalizer and conceded all three points to Croatia.
Russia, as expected, beat Andorra and moved into second place in the group, dropping England into third and out of the tournament. The FA terminated McClaren's contract the next day after only 18 matches in 16 months, making his time in charge of the national team the shortest of any England manager.
