The Premier League - Without Manchester United Quiz

Answer: Luton Town

Middlesbrough were one of three clubs who were relegated out of the Premier League at the end of 1992-93.

Answer: They conceded 100 goals in their 42 league matches

Unfortunately, their defence was found wanting and they were beaten by five goals or more on no less than 6 occasions, including a 1-7 defeat at Newcastle United, a 2-6 defeat by Everton, and consecutive five goal defeats by Arsenal and Southampton.

Answer: Manchester City score the winning goal

93 minutes and 20 seconds is the match time when Manchester City scored their epic winning goal, to achieve their first league title since 1968. The time of the goal is iconic to City fans and for the 2022-23 season, the time was printed into City's shirts.

Joey Barton was, indeed, sent off during the game but that occurred in the 55th minute. He disputed the red card decision and the length of time it took to remove him from the field of play contributed to the 6 minutes of added time which allowed City to come back from being 1-2 down after 90 minutes normal time to score twice in added time to win the match, and the Premier League title.

Mario Ballotelli wore his controversial tee shirt in different match. It was Ballotelli who passed the ball to Sergio Aguero to strike the winning goal, the only official "assist" that Ballotelli was credited with in his time at City. If you're only going to have one assist, you might as well make it an important one.

Pep Guardiola was not manager of City at that time. In 2012 that position was held by Roberto Mancini.

Answer: Chris Sutton

Blackburn signed Sutton from Norwich City. Alan Shearer joined Newcastle from Blackburn Rovers in July 1996 for a then world record transfer fee. Gillespie and Cole never played for Blackburn Rovers.

Answer: 1995-96

In order to reduce the division by two clubs, at the end of the 1994-95 season, four clubs were relegated from the Premier League to the then-named First Division (which was bad luck for Crystal Palace FC, who finished fourth bottom and in previous seasons would have avoided relegation) and only two were promoted from the First Division to the Premier League. Since 1996-97, three clubs have been relegated from the Premier League to the Championship, and three promoted to the Premier League from the Championship,

Answer: Kevin Davies

This rather bittersweet phenomenon first occurred in 2008 for Kevin Davies of Bolton Wanderers in their match against Aston Villa at Villa Park. Davies assisted a goal scored by Johan Elmander in the 17th minute, Villa equalised through Gabriel Agbonlahor before taking the lead in the 40th minute when Davies deflected the ball into his own goal. Villa scored twice more in the second half to seal their victory, before Davies scored a consolation goal for Bolton in the 86th minute. Gareth Bale repeated the feat playing for Tottenham Hotspur in their home match against Liverpool in 2012, some four seasons after Davies. Bale was also shown a yellow card in that match.

Answer: 2015-16

It took them 20 seasons to record a positive goal difference of +14. In 1998-99 they finished in 5th place - and almost qualified for a Champions League place the following season ... with a goal difference of -7.

Answer: Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku scored three goals for West Bromwich Albion in a 5-5 draw at The Hawthorns on 19 March 2013. He was born on 13 May 1993 in Antwerp, Belgium.

Answer: Manchester City

For those unfamiliar with the English league system, 3 points are awarded for winning a match, 1 point is awarded to both teams in the event of a draw, and a losing team gets 0 points. Each club plays 38 matches so the maximum possible is 114 points.

In 2017-18 season, Manchester City won 32, drew 4 and lost only 2, scoring 106 goals and conceding only 27. Liverpool FC came within a whisker of emulating this achievement in 2019-20 with 99 points; also with 32 wins, but with 3 draws and 3 defeats.

The difference being, that although both clubs won the same number of games, City drew 1 more and lost 1 less than Liverpool and that made the odd-point difference. Such are the fine margins of football.

Answer: Portsmouth

Portsmouth were promoted to the Premier League for the start of the 2003-04 season and were relegated in 2009-10, staying for a total of 7 seasons. They won the FA Cup in 2008, beating Cardiff City 1-0 in the Final. They reached the final again in 2010, but were beaten by Chelsea 0-1.

Portsmouth hold one unique, albeit quirky FA Cup record. They won the FA Cup in May 1939 and as the competition was not contested during the years of World War 2, they had possession of the trophy until the competition resumed in 1946, thus becoming by default, the club that has held the trophy for the longest period of time (7 years). During the war, because the city of Portsmouth was a prime target for German bombing, the trophy was moved for safe keeping to the village of Lovedean, some ten miles from Portsmouth, and hidden in the cellar of a quaint thatched roof pub called "The Bird in Hand."

Southampton won the FA Cup in 1976, then as a Division Two ("The Championship", today) club beating Manchester United 1-0. Brighton and Hove Albion and AFC Bournemouth have never won the FA Cup.