3 September 1892 - They Got Better

On 3 September 1892, Manchester United played their first league match, losing 4-3 to Blackburn Rovers. Although it was an inauspicious start to an inauspicious season, United have since become the league's most decorated team, winning the title a record nineteen times.

For the first season, the club still went by their original name of Newton Heath. Founded in 1878, they attempted to join the Football League upon its creation in 1888, but were rejected for four years. Finally admitted for the 1982-93 season, they opened the campaign away at Blackburn where they lost 4-3.

They proceeded to go winless for their next five matches, losing another three and finished the season dead last in twentieth place. But they avoided relegation by beating Small Heath FC (later known as Birmingham City) in a playoff. Their next season, however, did see them drop into the Second Division for several years before finally returning in 1906 and winning their first league title in 1908.

Since then, they have increased their total to nineteen, with their most recent title coming in 2011.

22 May 2011 - A Goal In Time For Pavlyuchenko

On 22 May 2011, a pair of goals from Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko relegated Birmingham and set a new Premier League record.

On the last day of the season, Birmingham went into their match against Tottenham in the table's seventeenth place, one spot above the relegation zone and level on points with eighteenth-place Blackpool and nineteenth-place Wigan.

Playing at White Hart Lane, Birmingham--who had won that season's League Cup--went down 1-0 to a goal from Pavlyuchenko in the 49th minute, but drew level thirty minutes later with a strike from Craig Gardner. Then, as they pushed forward for the goal they needed to secure their top-flight survival, Pavlyuchenko struck again with a match winner in the 93rd minute to seal Birmingham's drop. (As it turned out, even a draw would not have been enough for Birmingham, as Wigan won their match at Stoke.)

For Tottenham, the win kept them in fifth place and qualified them for the next season's Europa League.

Pavlyuchenko's goal was the 1,063rd of the Premier League season, setting a new English scoring record for a 38-game season.