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It’s over 30 years since the Premier League was formed, and in that time there have been countless classic matches.
But only 12 have been iconic enough to warrant their own pages on Wikipedia, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal featuring most prominently.
We’ve taken a look at the dozen games that made the cut. No complaints here.
Man Utd 9-0 Ipswich (1995)
An iconic scoreline until Southampton decided that everyone deserves one to their name.
Andy Cole benefited most from the Tractor Boys’ slack defending, netting five times across the 90 minutes, while Mark Hughes got in on the act with a brace.
Roy Keane and Paul Ince also got their names on the scoresheet, although it was not enough to help the Red Devils reel in eventual league-winners Blackburn.
Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle (1996)
Tony Warner made 120 appearances on the bench for Liverpool, but never actually played for them. At least he had a front-row seat for arguably the greatest Premier League game in history…
Another Wiki-worthy game lit up the English game a year later as Liverpool and Newcastle faced off, with the Magpies looking for their first title with the league in its new guise.
Unfortunately for them, Collymore closed in.
READ: The story of Tony Warner, the Liverpool bench and the best ever PL game
Nottingham Forest 1-8 Man Utd (1999)
It took 20 years for Leicester City to piss on United’s chips, having registered the Premier League’s largest away win back in February 1999.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came off the bench to score four goals – three of which came after the 88th minute – and four months later United won the treble. Did Bayern Munich not do any opposition analysis back then?
Man Utd 0-0 Arsenal (2003)
Officially titled ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ on Wikipedia, this game was goalless (the only 0-0 on this list) but there was no shortage of memorable moments and talking points.
After a hotly-contested 90 minutes, things reached a climax in the final minute when Ruud van Nistelrooy dubiously won a penalty, which resulted in Patrick Vieira getting dismissed.
Van Nistelrooy missed the spot-kick, resulting in scenes no one everyone wants to see, with Martin Keown jumping in the Dutchman’s face. Sensationally spiky.
Man Utd 2-0 Arsenal (2004)
Officially titled ‘Battle of the Buffet’ on Wikipedia – like a straight to DVD sequel of the corresponding fixture the previous season – its entry features the wonderful subheading and clarification: “Pizzagate: Not to be confused with Pizzagate conspiracy theory.”
2003 was a simpler time, in which the biggest controversy involving pizza was an Arsenal player (later revealed to be Cesc Fabregas) throwing a slice of pizza at Sir Alex Ferguson.
Eighteen years later Arsenal fans still won’t shut up about Mike Riley’s refereeing that day, and to be fair they’ve probably got a point…
READ: A forensic analysis of Mike Riley’s display in Man Utd 2-0 Arsenal, 2004
Portsmouth 7-4 Reading (2007)
The highest-scoring Premier League game in history.
A Benjani hat-trick helped Pompey into a 4-2 lead, and they looked set for an entertaining, but not exactly historic, three points.
But there were still five goals to be scored, including two in injury time, to edge this game into the record books. 11 goals in a game. Commiserations to whoever had to condense it into snappy highlights for Match of the Day.
Man Utd 4-3 Man City (2009)
This September clash is almost certainly the greatest or at least most chaotic Manchester derby we have ever seen.
Under fresh ownership, Mark Hughes took his City side to his former stomping ground confident of causing an upset, and my god they ran them close.
A Wayne Rooney strike and a surprise brace from Darren Fletcher were cancelled out by Gareth Barry and a Craig Bellamy double, including a 90th-minute equaliser
But with the ensuing celebrations running over, Martin Atkinson added two extra minutes onto the initial four announced. Michael Owen subsequently did his thing and left Hughes fuming.
#onthisday 2009 Man United beat Man City 4-3 with a last minute Michael Owen goal pic.twitter.com/yDXVJqCbkZ
— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) September 20, 2018
Man Utd 8-2 Arsenal (2011)
One of the most stylish thrashings in Manchester United’s Premier League history.
There were stunners galore at Old Trafford. Ashley Young buried two of them from long-range, Wayne Rooney notched a hat-trick and Nani and Park Ji-Sung were on hand to make it eight.
It was probably that day that Robin van Persie realised where his future lay when you think about it.
READ: Ranking all 10 goals from Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal in 2011
Man City 3-2 QPR (2012)
AGUEROOOOOOOOOOOO…
Southampton 0-9 Leicester (2019)
Nobody expected this when the two sides kicked off on that Friday night three years ago.
Hat-tricks for Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy, and goals from Ben Chilwell, Youri Tielemans and James Maddison left Southampton utterly humiliated.
It will be a while until we see anything like that again from the south-coast side.
Man Utd 9-0 Southampton (2021)
Oh for f-.
A nightmare night for the Saints. A feeling of dread like none other. Suffering 9-0 defeats in back-to-back seasons. It is safe to say it was a Premier League first.
Strangely, nobody scored a hat-trick in this one, with Anthony Martial’s brace the biggest haul. Southampton will take some consolation from the fact they’ve avoided a nine-goal hammering since.
Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth (2022)
Liverpool had yet to win in the Premier League when Bournemouth made the trip to Anfield earlier this season but Scott Parker’s side rolled over and played dead as the Reds filled their boots.
“I feel sorry for the fans,” Parker said afterwards. I feel sorry for the players because we are ill-equipped at this level. This does not shine a light for me. There are players who are experiencing the Premier League for the first time.
“I never thought we could get beat 9-0 but I expected a real challenge at certain moments in certain games.”
He was unsurprisingly sacked a few days later. Bournemouth won the return fixture in March.
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