Fri 02 September 2022, 13:15
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, we turn the clock back to December, 2001, a convincing win against Fulham at the Lane and a milestone goal for Les Ferdinand...
Spurs 4-0 Fulham - 15 December, 2001
Les Ferdinand grabbed the headlines - and a bottle of bubbly - after scoring the Premier League's 10,000th goal in this win against Fulham - let's hope he shared a glass with Darren Anderton, who produced a masterclass on the day.
'Sir Les' was in the right place at the right time to turn home Anderton's cross from inside the six-yard box following a 16-pass move to open the scoring in the 20th minute. That was the first goal of the day and therefore, the league's 10,000th goal.
Anderton was everywhere, and involved in every goal. He scored the second himself, drilling home with the outside of his right boot from the edge of the box from Ferdinand's lay-off, the ball spinning inside the post with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar motionless. Teddy Sheringham and Anderton exchanged passes centrally before Anderton released Simon Davies to score from 20 yards for 3-0 on 71 minutes.
Six minutes later, Anderton won possession in midfield and found Sheringham, who produced a defence-splitting pass for Sergei Rebrov to run onto and clip past van der Sar for the fourth.
Fulham, on an eight-match unbeaten run prior to this, had been pulled apart as we built on our early season form. We were joint-fifth at this point with Chelsea and United, but eventually finished ninth. Fulham were only a point behind us at that time, but slipped down to 13th.
Spurs: Sullivan, Perry, Richards, King, Davies, Anderton, Freund, Poyet, Tarrico, Ferdinand (Rebrov 66), Sheringham. Substitutes (not used): Keller, Sherwood, Leonhardsen, Gardner.
