ON THIS DAY

A Premier League first at Fratton Park for the Portsmouth v Arsenal fixture - for the first time a match kicked off with not one Englishman on the field for either side. The starting line-ups included 7 from France as well as players from Iceland, Algeria, Croatia, Ghana, Cameroon, Russia, Bosnia, Belgium, South Africa, Israel, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. But the English did eventually get a look-in, just before the final whistle each side brought on an English sub! 31 st December

After the ref dropped his yellow card Paul Gascoigne – then of Rangers – jokingly ‘booked’ the ref when returning the card to him. The ref booked Gascoigne for real! Lucky he didn’t drop a red card I guess.