Before now, when was the last time England's current 'Big 4' of Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea all played on the same day (or weekend, to allow for the modern day spread of fixtures) and failed to score a goal between them (or even just failed to record a victory between them)?

If you'd watched MOTD last night you'd know the answer

Spill the beans.

Would we?

I was half asleep but I thought all they said was it was the first time since the Premiership began that it had happened. Did they actually say when it had last happened?

I'm sure they said that it has never happened before. Today's big 4 haven't always been the big 4 though. I'm sure if you looked back at today's big 4's results you'd find that it has happened in the past.

Match of the Day has an alarming tendency to forget football existed before the Premiership began. I'm pretty sure they said "first time that's happened in the Premiership" but, as I said, I was half asleep so I may have mis-heard it. I also took it they were referring to the top four at start of play rather than specifically to Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool regardless of their positions at the time. Again though, I may have mis-interpreted the point they were making.

I'd have thought it probably happened at some point in the murky past, though it's only really since the Premiership began that there has been an established "big 4" anyway, as you say. I wouldn't necessarily have been a major surprise in past years.

Was MOTD referring to none of them winning or none of them scoring? (I was like Skyline Drifter. I watched the Man City and then Portsmouth games while half asleep on the couch. I then chucked it and went to bed).

I'm 99% sure it said first time - since the Premiership began... - that none of those 4 clubs had SCORED. (Which makes sense... I mean, it's entirely possible that there would be a weekend in the past 15 years where 2 of them might have drawn with each other, and the other 2 drawn or lost, therefore = none of them WON). No information was provided about the last time it occurred.

As far am I'm aware, its the first time since the Premiership began (1992) that Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have not scored in the same round of fixtures.

During the Villa - Man Utd game on saturday, the Setanta commentator said that it last happened in february 1993, during the Premiership's debut season.

Just checked that.

On Monday 8th Feb 1993 Man Utd drew 0-0 at Leeds, then on Wed 10th Chelsea and Liverpool drew 0-0 with each other and Arsenal lost 1-0 to Wimbledon. More often than not, the Monday night game is part of the weekend fixture list, but on this occassion both Man Utd and Leeds played games on Sat 6th so their meeting on the Monday was part of the midweek fixtures.

Like I said earlier in the thread though, my impression was not that the BBC stat that it had never happened in the Premiership referred to the four specific clubs. I think they meant that the top four at start of play hadn't all gone scoreless in any given round of fixtures.

I would presume that three of those four were nowhere near top four in Feb 1993. United won the league that season but Liverpool finished 6th, Arsenal 10th and Chelsea were 11th. It's easily forgotten now but United, and to a lesser extent Arsenal, apart, the "Big Four" weren't really the same in the 90's. Chelsea's elevation only really dates from Abramovich's arrival for a start whilst Liverpool were decidedly average for much of the decade. In 1993 Man Utd, Aston Villa, Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers were the "Big Four" and QPR finished 5th!

Top 4 Finishes since the Premiership started

16 Manchester United
13 Arsenal
11 Liverpool
8 Chelsea
5 Newcastle
3 Blackburn
3 Leeds
2 Aston Villa
1 Norwich
1 Nottingham Forest
1 Everton

Note:
Spurs - 0