31 October 2009 - The Top Flight Turns Red

On 31 October 2009, referees sent off a record eight people in the Premier League's nine games.

Liverpool were hit the hardest, losing defenders Jamie Carragher (pictured) and Philipp Degen. They were already down 2-1 to Fulham before Degen received a straight red for a 79th-minute foul on Clint Dempsey. He was followed three minutes later by Carragher, who drew a straight red of his own for fouling Bobby Zamora. Dempsey took advantage of the two-man advantage and scored Fulham's third goal in the 87th minute to set the final margin at 3-1.

The day's other red-card recipients included a pair of Trinidad and Tobago internationals, Kenwyne Jones for Sunderland and Jlloyd Samuel for Bolton, as well as Hull City's Giovanni, Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Aston Villa's Carlos Cuellar, and West Ham's Radoslav Kovac.

Not surprisingly, none of the above teams won their games that day, though Everton and Aston Villa drew with each other, as did Sunderland and West Ham.

30 October 2011 - That's Not A Bad Consolation Prize

On 30 October 2011, defender Ryujiro Ueda scored with a header from his own half to lead Fagiano Okayama over Yokohama FC 1-0.

The teams met at Yokohama's Mitsuzawa Stadium in a Japanese second division league match. The game was scoreless until the 69th minute, when the Yokohama goalkeeper Kentaro Seki took a long goal kick, sending the ball over the midfield line. Ueda rushed forward to meet it in the air and headed it back toward Seki, who was caught well off his line.

The ball landed in front of Seki, then bounced over his head. He raced back toward his goal, but was unable to get a hand to the ball until after it crossed the line, giving the visitors the 0-1 lead. An unofficial measurement taken by the grounds staff set the distance of the strike at 58.6 meters, which would have made it a new world record for longest headed goal, beating the previous record of 58.13 meters set by Jone Samuelsen for Odd Grenland in a Norwegian league game the previous month. But an subsequent official measurement reduced the distance to 57.8 meters.

Still, while falling short of the record, Ueda's strike gave his team the win. Fagiano went on to finish the season in the table's thirteenth spot, five places above Yokohama.

29 October 1970 - The Famous Mister Ed

On 29 October 1970, record-setting goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was born in the Dutch town of Voorhout.

He started his professional career with Ajax in 1990 and became a regular starter in the 1992-93 season. He remained there for nine years, winning four league titles and the 1995 Champions League Final, keeping a clean sheet against defending champions AC Milan.

Leaving Ajax in 1999, he spent time with Juventus (1999-2001) and Fulham (2001-05) before joining Manchester United in the summer of 2005. In six seasons at Old Trafford, he won four league titles and another Champions League trophy. During the 2008-09 season, he kept a clean sheet for a world-record 1,311 minutes. He retired in 2011 after becoming the oldest player to win the Premier League (at the age of 40 years and 205 days).

Along the way, he also earned 130 caps for the Netherlands to finish as their all-time leader in appearances.

28 October 1973 - Cruyff Turns Barcelona's Season Around

On 28 October 1973, Johan Cruyff made his Barcelona debut and scored twice in a 4-0 win over Granada.

He spent the previous nine seasons with Ajax, where he won six league titles, three European Cups, and the 1971 Ballon d'Or. His signing was a coup for Barcelona, who had not won the league since 1960 and who spent £922,000 to bring him to Camp Nou, almost doubling the previous world record of £500,000 (spent by Juventus on striker Pietro Anastasi in 1968).

The move was possible only because the Spanish federation finally lifted their ban on foreign players and it was helped by the fact that Barça's manager was Rinus Michels, who had coached Cruyff at Ajax from 1965 to 1971.

Real Madrid had first approached Ajax and believed they had reached a deal for Cruyff, but the player was offended by having been omitted from the negotiations and chose Barcelona instead. In an attempt to sort out the situation, the Spanish league withheld permission for Cruyff's participation for several weeks, then finally approved the Barcelona deal.

By the time he made his debut, Barcelona were near the bottom of the table, having won only one and lost three of their first six games. But Cruyff quickly lifted the team, scoring two on his debut to help get the victory over Granada. He went on to score a total of 16 in 26 appearances as Barcelona won the league and Cruyff won the second of his three Ballon d'Ors.

He remained with Barcelona for five seasons and later managed the team from 1988 to 1996, winning four league titles, the European Cup, and the Cup Winners' Cup.

27 October 2012 - In Retrospect, Thirteen Minutes Doesn't Seem So Long

On 27 October 2012, Manchester City beat Swansea 1-0 in what turned out to be the longest game in Premier League history.

The defending league champions, Manchester City entered the match sitting third in the table on the back of an undefeated record of five wins and three draws. Swansea, meanwhile, had just climbed into tenth after getting their only win in their last six, so few people expected them to put up much of a fight at the Etihad.

But the hosts were off their game for most of the day, suffering from an apparent hangover after losing to Ajax in the Champions League three days earlier. The only highlight for either team was Carlos Tevez's strike in the 30th minute that put City up 1-0.

The lowlights were more numerous, however, as both teams lost players to injury—defender Micah Richards for Manchester City (pictured) and keeper Michael Vorm for Swansea. Richards tore a meniscus in his knee and was sidelined for four months, while Vorm was out for eight weeks.

The injuries to Richards and Vorm delayed the game for lengthy spells, leading to a total of thirteen minutes of stoppage time, making the game the longest in the Premier League.

26 October 2008 - All Good Things Come To An End

On 26 October 2008, Liverpool won 0-1 at Stamford Bridge to end Chelsea's English-record home league unbeaten streak at 86.

The streak started under manager José Mourinho on 20 March 2004 with a 2-1 win over Fulham and included their back-to-back title-winning seasons of 2004-05 and 2005-06. Although Mourinho left in June 2004, the run continued under his replacement Avram Grant (September 2007 to May 2008), then was picked up by Luiz Felipe Scolari, who took charge in July 2008.

It ended courtesy of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, who scored with a deflected shot in the 10th minute. That was all the visitors needed, as their defense held firm for the 0-1 victory.

In addition to ending the streak, the win sent Liverpool to the top of the table, though they ultimately finished second behind champions Manchester United. Chelsea, meanwhile, went on to finish three points behind Liverpool in third.

25 October 2000 - Donovan's Dynamic Debut

On 25 October 2000, Landon Donovan earned his first senior cap and scored in a 2-0 win over Mexico.

The eighteen-year old midfielder had already established himself as a rising star with the junior squads, including a performance at the 1999 U17 World Cup that ended with him being named the tournament's best player.

He was one of seven players given their international debut under manager Bruce Arena for the friendly against Mexico, played at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The others were Chris Klein, Kerry Zavagnin, Peter Vagenas, Bobby Convey, Sasha Victorine, and Joe Franchino.

Donovan didn't start, but came on in the 32nd minute after an injury to Chris Henderson, then scored in the 50th minute to put the United States up 1-0. Just under thirty minutes later, he provided an assist, sending in a cross from the left flank that was driven home by Josh Wolff, to set the final score at the now-familiar 2-0.

Since then, Donovan has gone on to become the team's all-time leading scorer with 57 goals and is the second-ranked appearances leader with 154, just ten behind retired midfielder Cobi Jones.