Tue 30 August 2022, 15:15
Tottenham HotspurWelcome to a new series for 2022/23 - 1 from 30 - as we mark 30 years of the Premier League.
English football's new dawn kicked-off on the weekend of 15/16 August, 1992 as the FA Premier League replaced Barclays League Division One, ending a structure of Division One-Four that had been in place since 1958. Thirty years on, the Premier League is amongst the most watched and most valuable sporting leagues in the world.
In this new series, 1 from 30, we'll feature a match from 30 years of the Premier League that corresponds with our next fixture. Next up, it's a night to remember at West Ham's famous old Upton Park, the night a Canadian full-back wrote his name into Spurs folklore...
West Ham 3-4 Spurs - 4 March, 2007
Over 15 years down the line, and Paul Stalteri is still being stopped by Spurs fans wanting to ask him about his defining moment in a Spurs shirt, a night in east London that few present will ever forget.
This fixture has produced a catalogue of incidents and excitement in the Premier League era, highs and lows, ups and downs, and plenty of goals - 139 in 52 matches since 1992/93 as we prepare to meet again on Wednesday night. Yet few equal this night at Upton Park for pure drama.
The teams were fighting for very different targets as we met on a Sunday evening. West Ham were 19th and battling against relegation. We were ninth and determined to qualify again for Europe.
That all went into the melting pot in E13 and West Ham tore at us from the first whistle, taking a 2-0 lead through Mark Noble and Carlos Tevez. We hit back in the second half and were level just after the hour via Jermain Defoe's penalty and Teemu Tainio's volley from a backheeled Aaron Lennon assist.
However, the hard work in clawing our way back into the game seemed for nothing when Bobby Zamora looked to have won it for West Ham five minutes from time. But that wasn't the script. Instead, Dimitar Berbatov clipped home a free-kick from the edge of the box for 3-3 on 89 minutes and as West Ham tried to win the game late on, we broke from a set piece and Paul Stalteri, full-back Paul Stalteri, somehow found himself bursting forward in injury time to follow in Jermain Defoe's shot and tap home a famous winner.
Speaking about his moment, Canada international Paul recalled: "Young-Pyo Lee cleared the ball and I remember finding Jermain Defoe with a pass. All of a sudden I looked up and I saw acres of space, so I just continued running, not exactly sure why as I knew there was absolutely no chance Jermain was ever going to pass the ball! Those things happen so quickly and before you know it, the ball was sitting there ready to be rolled in for the winner! What an amazing feeling."
In the end, both teams achieved their goals - we won seven of our last nine matches to finish fifth, West Ham also won seven of nine to climb to 15th.
Spurs: Robinson, Chimbonda (Taarabt 87), Dawson, Gardner, Lennon, Ghaly (Huddlestone 46), Jenas (Stalteri 57), Tainio, Defoe, Berbatov. Substitutes (not used): Cerny, Rocha.
