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Premier League

Football, eh? Here are the 21 greatest moments in Premier League history

The league turns 21 this weekend, so we’ve decided to celebrate…

21. Dennis Bergkamp completely bamboozles Nikos Dabizas

Back in the days when Arsenal stars were intent on staying at the club for the long haul, Dennis Bergkamp was busy solidifying his legendary status, with efforts such as the goal below.

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20. Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal

After scoring four goals in one incredible match, of course it was going to be all downhill from there as far as Andrey Arshavin’s Arsenal career was concerned.

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19. Kevin Keegan ‘would love it’ if Newcastle beat Man United to the title

And of course, they didn’t.

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18. Man United 4-3 Man City

Voted the Best Match in Premier League history by the general public, this game epitomised the chaotic, breakneck pace and exuberant wanton attacking with which the league is often associated. And Michael Owen’s climactic last-minute goal ensured it would be remembered as a classic.

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17. Wayne Rooney announces himself on the British football scene

The moment when Rooney became a star – the then-16-year-old substitute scored a stunning last-minute goal to end Arsenal’s 30-match unbeaten run and demonstrate that there was substance to the hype that had greeted his emergence on the football scene at such a tender age.

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16. Tim Howard scores from his own area

Before last season, goalkeepers scoring from their own area had seemed to be an occurrence of a bygone era when everything about football appeared so much more casual, however Everton’s Tim Howard subsequently dispelled that notion.

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15. Everton complete the great escape

Has there every been a more unlikely and dramatic relegation escape than Everton’s incredible comeback against Wimbledon in the 93/94 season? I think not.

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14. David Beckham’s goal against Wimbledon

David Beckham tends to divide opinion. He is either one of the greatest players in Premier League history, or incredibly overrated and more interested in celebrity than football. Yet even his fiercest critics can’t deny that this goal against Wimbledon was a moment of sheer genius.

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13. The Roy Keane-Patrick Vieira battles

Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira had many exciting tussles on the pitch, but the off-field pre-match incident revisited below, in which Keane comes across as unwittingly hilarious, is probably the most notorious of all their encounters.

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12. Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2007-2008 season

It’s nigh on impossible to think of another example of an individual player excelling on such a relentless basis than Cristiano Ronaldo for Man United in the 07/08 season, in which he scored 31 goals in 34 appearances – a phenomenal and unprecedented achievement.

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11. Man City show their rivals that they mean business

Man City beating Man United 6-1 was not only one of the most impressive Premier League performances ever, it was also hugely significant in the context of the league’s history. Up until then, United had enjoyed an obvious superiority complex over the supposed ‘second’ footballing team in Manchester. Yet if not before, when a serious cash injection from their newly arrived Arab owners increased the side’s competitiveness, this result altered the clubs’ relationship irrevocably, as the psychological advantage that United once routinely enjoyed over their rivals had now unquestionably diminished.

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10. Man United destroy Arsenal

Another vintage performance – and on this occasion, United were the perpetrators rather than the victims. This time, it was simply a case of one of the best teams in Premier League history being on top form and absolutely blowing away an Arsenal side who were far from pushovers themselves.

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9. Alan Shearer doing what he does best

Many critics regard Alan Shearer as the best player in Premier League history and the impressively comprehensive highlights package below does nothing to detract from that claim.

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8. Arsenal go the whole season unbeaten

A substantial proportion of people consider the 2003/2004 Arsenal side to be the best team/squad in Premier League history, and there’s considerable merit to the claim, given that the ‘Invincibles’ went the entire season unbeaten – a feat unlikely to be replicated anytime soon, no matter how much cash Man City’s owners ply the club with.

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7. Blackburn lose the battle but win the war

Back in the 1995, teams like Blackburn were actually capable of winning the league. Granted, Rovers at the time were akin to an earlier equivalent of Man City nowadays, given the considerable amount of money the then-owner Jack Walker spent on the club by that era’s standards. Nonetheless, such excessive financial assistance could not prevent what was – up until last year at least – the most closely-fought title race and gripping last-day finish ever. It encompassed the rather surreal scenario of Blackburn fans greeting Liverpool’s last-minute goal to beat them with vociferous cheers, as they had just heard confirmation of United’s failure to defeat West Ham, thus guaranteeing them the title.

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6. Tony Adams fittingly scores the goal that confirms Arsenal’s first-ever title win

As the well-worn commentators’ cliche would suggest, you simply couldn’t make this moment up. With seconds to go in a game that would confirm Arsenal’s status as Premier League champions for the first time ever, who should be seen striding forward but the club’s legendary veteran defender, Tony Adams, around whom so much of their success had been built over the years. It was consequently somewhat fitting that, despite the added presence of foreign imports such as Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp ultimately inspiring them to their triumph, it was one of the ever-reliable old guard that sealed it in symbolic fashion.

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5. Paolo Di Canio’s goal against Wimbledon

Arguably the greatest goal in Premier League history, it was moments like this that made the mercurial Italian’s occasional descents into madness worth putting up with.

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4. Paolo Di Canio’s moment of fair play

And of course, Di Canio also had an admirable tendency to sporadically illustrate a humanitarian spirit that was atypical of the average all-too-Machiavellian modern-day footballer.

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3. Tottenham 3-5 Man United

If not the best game in Premier League history, this was surely the most bizarre and unpredictable match over the course of its past twenty seasons. In addition to being one of the most unlikely comebacks ever, it was also one of those very rare occasions in which all eight goals in a game were scored at the same end, with Spurs leading United 3-0 at half-time, before United ran riot thereafter.

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2. Man City win the Premier League for the first time

Cynics will say City bought the title last year, but even the most bitter United supporter is likely to recognise the compelling drama that the last day of the 11/12 season provided, replete with both a hero (Sergio Aguero) and a pantomime villain (Joey Barton) reverting to type.

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1. Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle

The game on which Newcastle’s title hopes largely rested, this fixture lost out to the City-United 4-3 game in a vote to ascertain the Best Match in Premier League history, but supporters with long memories would surely identify it as the more enthralling occasion.

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What have we forgotten? Let us know in the comments section below.

Read: VIDEO: Leo Messi handshake sends pitch invader away happy>

Read: Shane Long’s weekend wishlist: A goal against Liverpool and Tipperary to beat Kilkenny>

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