ON THIS DAY

Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-0 at Old Trafford in the Premier League, amazingly Arsenal's first League defeat since May 2003. Since then the Gunners had gone a record 49 League matches without defeat, including the whole of the 2003/04 season.

When the then Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed bought Fulham in 1997 he said he would see them in the Premier League in five years time - and to be fair he put his money where his mouth was. On October 24th 1997 Fulham shattered their club record transfer fee paid when they bought Paul Peschisolido (the husband of Karren, sorry now Baroness, Brady) from WBA for £1.1million, the first million pound purchase by a third tier club. Just a week previously The Cottagers had set their previous record fee paid when buying Ian Selley from Arsenal for £500,000 (a broken leg saw him play only 3 League matches for Fulham) while in early December 1997 both Fulham's and the divisional record were shattered when the Londoners bought Chris Coleman from Blackburn Rovers for £2.1million. Fulham were playing in the Premier League in 2001 and later Chris Coleman progressed to club manager after an injury ended his playing career.

Five players – George Armitage, captain Claude Ashton, Billy Austin, Frank Hudspeth and Sydney Puddefoot made their England debuts in the 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland in Belfast. Puddefoot was the only one of the five to play for England a second time!