Unofficial Champions of England: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Chelsea, 01/02/1997

Roberto Di Matteo's stunning effort for 2-0

Back in the 90's there was saying: 'Three things in life are certain: death, taxes and Chelsea beating Tottenham.'

Tottenham Hotspur's defence of their English championship couldn't have gotten off to a worse start.
Gianfranco Zola's free-kick created chaos in the Spurs box resulting in Sol Campbell scoring an own goal with barely a minute played.

Chelsea's second came in the second half from the cultured boot of Roberto Di Matteo with a stunning effort from 30 yards.
Spurs did get one back through a David Howells header but as was so often the case in these fixtures, it wouldn't be enough.

Chelsea claimed their second English Championship after nearly four years away.

Unofficial Champions of England: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Blackburn Rovers, 29/01/1997

Steffen Iversen puts Tottenham ahead

Blackburn Rovers were the first five time Unofficial English Champions but looking to join them were Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs were not in the best form heading into this game having lost their previous four matches in all competitions, including a 7-1 drubbing by Newcastle United.

Tottenham took the lead just before half-time after Blackburn had been sloppy in defence and Steffen Iversen was able to prod them ahead.

Blackburn equalised in the second-half, veteran defender Colin Hendry arriving to head home from a corner.
The winning goal came in the 83rd minute. A long-throw bounced loose in the box and Andy Sinton pounced on it, driving it in low to win the game for Spurs.

If there was an Unofficial English Championship trophy it was now Spurs' to keep.

Unofficial Champions of England: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Nottingham Forest, 14/10/1995

Steve Stone chips in the winner

Tottenham Hotspur had defended their title successfully against Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Wimbledon, as well as two successful defences against erm, Chester City.
Nottingham Forest were looking to complete a triple crown of Unofficial English Championships.

It only took one goal to do it. Forest were struggling to replace recently departed striker Stan Collymore but they still had some quality to them. In the 65th minute, Steve Stone chipped the ball over Ian Walker from the right to win the game for Forest.

A hat-trick of titles for Nottingham Forest.

Unofficial Champions of England: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Leeds United, 09/09/1995

Teddy Sheringham heads the winning goal

Leeds United enjoyed a lengthy 10 match run as champions that included successful defences against Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United, Aston Villa (twice) and a re-match with Liverpool.

Also coming back for a second bite at the cherry was Tottenham Hotspur. Their previous attempt to unseat Leeds had ended in a 1-1 draw, now they would go one better.

The first goal came near the half-hour mark when David Howells headed in from Darren Anderton's corner.

Leeds equalised shortly after half-time, when Tony Yeboah scored a very ordinary goal by his standards, heading in from Carlton Palmer's cross.
But it would be Tottenham's day when new signing Chris Armstrong crossed and Teddy Sheringham was at the back post to get the winning goal.

A hat-trick of titles for Spurs.

Unofficial Champions of England: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Wimbledon, 25/02/1995

Unofficial English Champions Tottenham Hotspur had managed to hold on to their title with draws against Chelsea and Southampton but would need to be on their toes for the visit of 'the Crazy Gang' from Wimbledon.

There is actually a debate around who constitutes the Crazy Gang. In wider culture, it was a nickname for Wimbledon in general. Some say it only applies to the 1988 FA Cup winning team. There are some further who say it applies only to the trio of Dennis Wise, Vinnie Jones and John Fashanu. Either way, Wimbledon were not a side anyone took lightly.

Details are sparse for this game but all that really needs to be known is Efan Ekoku scored two for Wimbledon and Jurgen Klinsmann pulled one back for Spurs.

Never considered fashionable but Wimbledon were now English Champions.

Unofficial Champions of England: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Blackburn Rovers, 05/02/1995

Jurgen Klinsmann scores for Spurs

Blackburn Rovers managed one solitary defence with a 1-1 draw at Leeds United before surrendering their title.

Tottenham Hotspur had started the season with their fondly remembered 'Five-Man Attack' of Darren Anderton, Nick Barmby, Ilie Dumitrescu, Teddy Sheringham and international legend Jurgen Klinsmann. However, focusing all on attack had left Tottenham weak in defence and the results hadn't been what had been hoped for. Manager Ossie Ardiles was sacked and Gerry Francis brought in as Tottenham reverted to a more traditional shape.

Klinsmann opened the scoring for Tottenham in the 18th minute, running onto Barmby's through-ball before putting the ball between Rovers keeper Bobby Mimms legs.
Spurs went 2-0 up 10 minutes later, Anderton's deflected effort wrong-footing the Rovers keeper.

Blackburn did pull one back after half-time when future Spurs manager Tim Sherwood latched onto Alan Shearer's knock-down in the penalty area.
Tottenham made it safe though when Barmby headed in from Anderton's cross ten minutes from time.

Some small consolation for Blackburn, they would win the Premier League title a few months later.

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