ON THIS DAY

Arsenal’s first European match of the 2017/18 season was always going to have an unusual feel about it. For Arsenal the previous 19 campaigns had seen them start the season in the Champions League but this time around they were in the more humble surroundings of the Europa League while Group opponents Cologne were playing their first European tie in 25 years. But what really made the tie unique was that over 20,000 Cologne fans made the trip to London – and the Cologne ticket allocation was only 2900. Large numbers of German fans bought tickets from touts causing security problems inside the Emirates as those tickets were in the Arsenal sections of the ground and many of their fans let off flares. But the major security problem concerned the thousands left outside the Emirates without tickets. There were fears that they would storm the turnstiles to gain entrance while the shear numbers of ticketless fans prevented those with tickets the chance to gain entry to the ground. A postponement was considered but the match went ahead after a one-hour delay, kicking off at 9.05. Arsenal won the match 3-1 and went on to progress to the knock-out stages – Cologne didn’t. UEFA later fined Cologne €60,000 (£53,000) for the crowd problems and ordered them to pay for the damage their fans had caused at the Emirates.

Kidderminster Harriers' Aggborough ground hosted the first ever FA Cup match to be played under floodlights. Non-leaguers Kidderminster and Brierley Hill Alliance met in a Preliminary Round replay, Kidderminster winning 4-2.