How on earth do you choose the 30 Top Premier League strikers? Total number of goals? Goals per game or minutes per goal? While all three are good indicators, none factor in length of career, form, or consistency.
If we were going by total goals, then Andy Cole and midfielder Frank Lampard would be higher than Thierry Henry. At the time of writing in November 2019, if we were going by goals per game, newly promoted Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki would be higher than Harry Kane this season!
Nope, we thought our benchmarks should be based on the above statistics plus flair, skill, impact, class, and extra cool points for attitude, swagger, and gentlemanly conduct like not biting people. You know who you are!
GARY LINEKER
Games: 411
Goals: 223
GPG: 0.58
Before we get going, we need to start with an honourable mention. Gary Lineker would be high up on this list, but he never played in the Premier League; he played in the old First Division.
Rather than use physical strength for Leicester City, Everton, and Spurs, the literal fox-in-the-box goal-poacher/goal-hanger used his intelligence, anticipation, and blistering pace over the first few yards to race into the box at the near or far post and steal a goal before the keeper and centre-backs could blink. The England legend was the only player to win the Golden Boot with three separate clubs, and famously never got booked!
JERMAIN DEFOE
Games: 496
Goals: 163
GPG: 0.33
As consistent as he was underrated; Defoe reached double figures in eight different Premier League seasons. He’s also the only player to have scored 5 (five) goals in one half, in Spurs’ 9-1 demolition of Wigan in 2009.
In 17 summers since his debut for West Ham, the journeyman also played for Spurs, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Toronto FC. Defoe now holds some impressive records. He’s the 8th-highest Premier League scorer, and has the most goals from the bench with 23… even beating super-sub Solskjaer. In January 2019, Defoe moved on loan from Bournemouth to Rangers, where he has ‘fallen in love’ with the club.
EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR
Games: 242
Goals: 97
GPG: 0.40
Henry had left Arsenal for Barcelona. The king was dead, long live the king. Who could possibly replace him? Step forward an unlikely candidate. Adebayor was one of many players Arsene Wenger picked up on the cheap (£7.5M), improved, then sold to Man City for £25 million. Despite his unlikely frame and silky skills, Adebayor was a powerful, bullying and unpredictable striker who defenders hated playing against.
The Togo striker’s heyday was at Arsenal in 2007/08 when he bagged 24 Premier League goals, or 30 from 48 in all competitions. Arsenal fans labelled Adebayor a traitor after his controversial goal celebration, sprinting the entire length of the pitch to knee-slide in front of visiting Gooners... before joining Spurs! Adebayor was last seen playing for Kayserispor and still making your mum jokes to Arsenal fans.
JIMMY FLOYD HASSELBAINK
Games: 288
Goals: 127
GPG: 0.44
Only three players have topped the Premier League scoring charts with more than one team – van Persie, Shearer and Hasselbaink. That’s the company this largely overlooked (Suriname-born) Dutchman keeps. He also shared the 1998/99 Golden Boot with Michael Owen and Dwight Yorke, scoring 18 times for Leeds. An aggressive and complete striker,
JFH could score with his left, his head, from inside or outside the box. Yet his most memorable strikes were thunderbastards, courtesy of his right foot, and often celebrated with a fierce, almost-crazy glee. His Chelsea goal ratio in 2000/01 was 23 in 35, and he helped Chelsea finish second three years later. After playing for Middlesbrough and Charlton, he capped off a great career with a move to Cardiff.
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER
Games: 235
Goals: 91
GPG: 0.39
With one-third of his league appearances coming from the bench, Solskjaer averaged a Premier League goal every 150 minutes. Perhaps the most impressive super-sub of all time, the Norwegian was so devastating in front of goal that he was nicknamed The Baby-Faced Assassin.
His greatest moment came in the 1999 Champions League Final when he came on in the 81st minute, by which timehis team, Manchester United, had been trailing 1-0 to Bayern Munich for 75 minutes. By full-time, Man Utd were the victors with two injury-time goals from Solskjaer and Sheringham, both deservedly writing themselves into folklore.
ROMELU LUKAKU
Games: 232
Goals: 105
GPG: 0.45
Lukaku began at Anderlecht, where he scored 41 goals aged 18. He signed for Chelsea in 2011 but was loaned to West Bromwich Albion (17 in 35) before Blues boss Jose Mourinho sold him to Everton for £28 million, where he became a legend, scoring 68 goals in 141 games. In 2017, Mourinho re-signed Lukaku for Manchester United, for £75 million.
A beast of a man, Lukaku will always struggle to impress the many fans who see his size, style and gait as laziness. Lukaku netted 16 goals in 34 Premier League games in his Man Utd debut season and 28 from 66 total Prem ier League games. United sold him to Inter Milan for a club-record €80M – where he’s netted 9 in 12; an incredible goal-to-game ratio of 0.75!
JURGEN KLINSMANN
Games: 56
Goals: 29
GPG: 0.52
Loathed by England fans after his diving antics in Italia 90, Jurgen Klinsmann joined Spurs from Monaco in 1994 to become one of the original big foreign signings of the early Premier League era. His silky skills, 21 Premiership goals, and grass-slide “Klinsmann Dive” goal celebration changed fans’ opinions.
He was also crowned Football Writers’ Player of the Year. And yet, one year later, he was gone, leaving for Bayern Munich after just one season. Chairman Alan Sugar swiftly declared he wouldn’t wash his car with Klinsmann's shirt, yet the German returned on loan three seasons later, helping Tottenham avoid relegation. The German striker went on to manage Germany, the USA and Bayern Munich.
GIANFRANCO ZOLA
Games: 229
Goals: 59
GPG: 0.26
Zola’s GPG ratio for Chelsea wasn’t much to write home about, but the pint-sized Sardinian sniper transformed the game with an array of magician’s tricks and flicks and jaw-dropping technique, which is why he makes this list. Remember that lob against Everton? What about that near-post flick past the Norwich keeper?
Abramovich offered Gianfranco a cool million pounds to stay at Chelsea. Still, the 37-year-old instead opted to miss out on league titles and return to Sardinia’s Serie B club, Cagliari. He went on to manage a plethora of clubs, including West Ham and Cagliari, and later became Chelsea’s assistant manager. We miss you, Gianfranco!
LES FERDINAND
Games: 351
Goals:149
GPG: 0.42
Les Ferdinand MBE came a long, long way. Beginning as an amateur footballer for Southall in the Isthmian League while still working as a painter and decorator, he rose through the ranks, playing for Hayes, Brentford, Beşiktaş QPR, Newcastle. Spurs, West Ham, England and more.
Filled to the brim with strength, intelligence and cunning, “Sir Les” scored 101 goals in the PL’s first five seasons, and that's without a single spot-kick. Yes, Les was that good; he didn’t need penalties for his 149 goals to earn his spot as the 10th all-time Premier League scorer.
After scoring 80 goals from 163 games for QPR, he joined Newcastle in 1995, where he scored 41 goals from 68 games. And we didn’t even mention the Blue Peter garden rumour! Les is now Director of Football at QPR.
NICOLAS ANELKA
Games: 364
Goals: 125
GPG: 0.34
This enfant terrible and cause célèbre was a prodigious goalscoring talent. A title winner with Arsenal aged just 19, the following year brought 17 goals before he sulked his way to Real Madrid and back to boyhood club PSG.
Le Sulk came back to England with Liverpool, Man City and Bolton and was top scorer with 19 for Chelsea in 2008/09, winning yet another title a year later. He and Tevez are the only two men on this list to earn a winner’s medal with multiple clubs. After a stint in China, Anelka played for Juventus, then West Brom, but was sacked for gross misconduct over a controversial goal celebration. He retired from football when his swansong with Mumbai City FC ended in 2015.
ERIC CANTONA
Games: 156
Goals: 70
GPG: 0.45
Part philosopher, part Kung fu-kicking barbarian, Cantona changed the English game. It’s hard to believe, but United hadn’t won a title for 26 years before this genius yet turbulent Frenchman arrived from First Division winners Leeds, saying, “I’m Eric, and I’m here to win the title for you.”
A goal nearly every other game helped Fergie mould his team into a force to be reckoned with, but with his collar up and his chest puffed out, Eric made the newly-formed Premier League cooler than anyone else, ever.
With magnetic presence, contagious confidence and trademark flair, The King commanded Man Utd like a midfield general. The strong, creative, intelligent, technically skilled goalscorer scored 64 goals from 143 games.
CARLOS TEVEZ
Games: 202
Goals: 84
GPG: 0.42
The second of our trio of consecutive bad boys, did you know “Carlos Tevez” is the Spanish for controversial? Not scoring for his first NINE MONTHS in England, it looked like West Ham had made a proper boo-boo signing the Argentine in 2006... especially because, by March 2007, they were nine points adrift from safety and heading for the drop.
Then something miraculous happened. The real Carlos Tevez showed up and banged in seven goals to help save the Hammers from relegation. His inevitable transfer to Man Utd featured 19 goals in 63 games, and back-to-back titles. Now stay there at Man Utd, sunshine; you’re exactly where you need to be to become a Red Devils legend… Oh, curse you, Carlos Tevez!
But then, quite out of the blue in 2009, Tevez went and joined rivals Manchester City, where he was met by the famous ‘Welcome to Manchester’ poster. There, he scored 43 goals in two campaigns, but a bust-up with manager Roberto Mancini fuelled a move to Juventus.
DIEGO COSTA
Games: 89
Goals: 52
GPG: 0.58
If you thought Carlos Tevez was a high-maintenance hitman, Diego Costa scored a record seven goals in his first four Premier League games and finished that same year, 2014, with 20 goals to help Chelsea lift the title.
The Brazilian-born Spaniard could be far higher up this list but, talented as he was, you never knew which Diego Costa would turn up. Ruthless, unrivalled game-winner or his dirty, diving, biting, spitting, pushing, cheating, aggressive, wind-up merchant evil brother, who was as likely to get sent off as score.
Love him or hate him, he was a joy to watch, scoring 52 in 89 for Chelsea before being released by Antonio Conte via text message. He returned to Atlético Madrid but has recently been ruled out with a neck injury. Get well soon, you glorious loveable rogue bastard!
DIMITAR BERBATOV
Games: 229
Goals: 94
GPG: 0.41
Remember those cool points for swagger? Well, this broody Bulgarian had it in spades! Arriving at White Hart Lane in 2006, he soon earned cult status with his effortless, blase, lackadaisical playing style, and somehow helped turn Spurs into highly likeable League Cup winners.
Man United came a-knocking for £30 million, and Berba again banged in the goals. In 2010/11, he scored 20 on his way to the title. But haters gonna hate, and his ultra-cool swagger earned him a reputation as lazy.
In 2018, he retired from Kerala Blasters. Always the maverick, Berba recently stated that “People can go f*** themselves,” and described himself as “an artist on the pitch.” We’re 100% in agreement, Berba!
FERNANDO TORRES
Games: 212
Goals: 85
GPG: 0.40
Fernando Torres' stats are the perfect example of why we can’t rely on GPG ratio alone. Judge him by his 65 Liverpool goals in 102 games; his GPG would be an astonishing 0.63, and he’d be in the top five. Yet judge him by all those goalless games for Chelsea (20 in 110, or 0.18), and he wouldn’t be anywhere near this list. The real question is what on earth happened to turn him from rapid-fire Rambo into bumbling, forlorn Mr Bean?
Torres would have scored even more goals in his last two Liverpool campaigns were it not for injuries to his ankle, hamstring and knee. The wear and tear of being such a prolific marksman eventually got the better of him, and his own lack of belief and anxiety proved to be his undoing. Liverpool’s loss was also Chelsea’s loss.
DWIGHT YORKE & ANDY COLE
Games: 375/414
Goals: 123/187
GPG: 0.33/0.45
Yorke and Cole are the footballing equivalent of the Spice Girls song “2 Become 1”, so they share an entry. When Yorke arrived at The Theatre of Dreams from Aston Villa in 1998, it was love at first sight. Cole even talked of his strike partner like they were married, telling Four Four Two magazine: “When me and Yorkie started playing together, it was like meeting a special woman and falling in love.”
In October '98, these two new Man Utd soulmates started five games together, netting a combined 9 goals. They also provided assists to help the rest of the team score 19 that month on their way to the Treble. This dynamic duo scored a total of 98 goals in their first two seasons together – 76 when they were on the pitch together. Talk about the same wavelength!
Cole joined Blackburn in 2001, and Yorkie followed him six months later. Together, they fired Rovers to a sixth-place finish and a UEFA Cup place.
By Germany’s 2006 World Cup, 34-year-old Trinidadian Yorke had transformed himself into a midfield general, firing inch-perfect, fifty-yard passes from the half-way line. He marshalled defence, tackling, breaking up play, barking orders, and being rated the best defensive midfielder in the opening stages.
As for Andy Cole, this complex man deserves all our respect for winning 5 PL titles, 3 FA Cups and the Champions League, including the treble. Andy is the third-highest goalscorer in Premier League history with 187 goals.
JAMIE VARDY
Games: 251
Goals: 111
GPG: 0.44
Jamie Vardy might be the best million pounds ever spent. He signed for Leicester from non-league Fleetwood Town in 2012, and his trademark relentless running, energy and deft touch helped The Foxes gain promotion to the Premier League in 2014.
Since then, he has played for England, broke van Nistelrooy's record by scoring in 11 consecutive PL matches, and scored the lion's share of the goals that helped Leicester impossibly win the Premier League.
Reinvigorated this season under Brendan Rodgers, Jamie is the PL's most clinical striker with a goal every 98 minutes and a shot accuracy of 70%, compared to Aguero's 40% and Kane's 43%. Jamie could, in future, be higher in this list but we didn't want to place him too close to Wayne Rooney on account of their wives!
LUIS SUÁREZ
Games: 110
Goals: 69
GPG: 0.63
Signing toothy Uruguayan bad-boy Luis Suárez for £23M was a gamble for Liverpool. At Ajax, he’d scored a whopping 81 goals from 110 games, but he was as controversial as he was prolific and would go on to become more so. He scored 69 Premier League goals for Liverpool, also from 110 games.
Blessed with remarkable technique, El Pistolero's unpredictability and dribbling skills see him run past defenders. He's so good, he could nutmeg a mermaid! Suárez is a great player, yet his reputation for diving, biting, stamping, play-acting, cheating, handballing, and racially abusing players precedes him and pushes him lower down this list than his talent deserves.
DENNIS BERGKAMP
Games: 315
Goals: 87
GPG: 0.28
While his GPG ratio is low, Bergkamp more than deserves a spot this high on our list because of his genius skills, twists, turns, pirouettes, vision, nous, and goals that turned football into an art form.
Signed by Bruce Rioch for £7.5M, it was Arsene Wenger who built the team around Bergkamp, repurposing him as the man through which attacks would be lovingly created - mostly providing assists for Thierry Henry. Part of The Invincibles, the Non-Flying Dutchman scored the best goal the league has ever seen, and plenty more to boot in his 11-year Arsenal career.
ROBBIE FOWLER
Games: 379
Goals: 163
GPG: 0.43
How to win friends and influence Liverpool fans? Local-born. Tick. Maiden hat-trick in your fifth game? Tick. What about the fastest hat-trick in league history? (4 mins, 33 seconds - until it was eclipsed by Sadio Mane) Tick, tick and tick. Not long after, the Anfield faithful were referring to Toxteth-born Robbie Fowler as “God”.
Even in the era of Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, plus a career cut short by a bad knee ligament injury, Fowler is the 7th-highest Premier League striker, scoring 163 league goals for The Reds, Leeds, and Man City. He made a few comebacks but was never that same explosive goal poacher. Luckily for Liverpool, they had the perfect replacement lined up in the form of...
MICHAEL OWEN
Games: 326
Goals: 150
GPG: 0.46
Michael Owen was a regular starter for Liverpool aged 18. In his first full season, he shared the Golden Boot with Blackburn’s Chris Sutton and Homes Under The Hammer’s Dion Dublin.
Owen became England’s youngest player and goalscorer and won the Golden Boot again a year later after becoming a hero for England at the 1998 World Cup thanks to THAT goal against Argentina. In the Premier League, he scored 118 goals in 216 Liverpool appearances but never quite matched that ratio for Real Madrid, Newcastle, Man Utd, or Stoke.
Despite all his success, somehow Owen never reached 20 goals in a league campaign and was only a bit-part player when he won his only PL title with Manchester United in 2011. Still sounds wrong, doesn’t it?
TEDDY SHERINGHAM
Games: 418
Goals: 146
GPG: 0.35
Teddy Sheringham was a goalscoring legend for club and country. He was top scorer in the very first Premier League campaign and scored the decisive Champions League winner to win Man Utd the treble in 1999.
Sir Tedward scored 146 times in the Premier League, provided 76 top-flight assists, and formed a devastating, velociraptor-like “SAS” partnership with Shearer for England. Teddy was named Footballer of the Year at 34, and at the time of writing, holds the record as the oldest outfield player, playing for West Ham in the Premier League aged 40.
DIDIER DROGBA
Games: 254
Goals: 104
GPG: 0.41
Arriving from Marseille in 2004, Drogba’s first few months at Chelsea went down about as well as his diving... and lack of goals. Yet the Ivorian soon turned things around, becoming a deadly striker for The Blues. He won back-to-back titles under Mourinho, scored 100 goals in 226 Chelsea games, won the Golden Boot twice, and also provided 71 assists.
A physically dominating, tenacious talent, Didier had everything in his locker. Amazing hold-up play, creativity, telepathic positional sense, an excellent free-kick, a rocket of a shot and a bullet of a header. Every defender in the world must have hated seeing his name on the team sheet.
Drogba was famed for performing in big games; his 10 goals in 10 finals, winning 10 trophies, including his equalising header against Bayern Munich in the 88th minute of the 2012 Champions League final.
IAN WRIGHT
Games: 213
Goals: 113
GPG: 0.53
Ian Wright is a goalscoring legend, rising from non-league to Arsenal and England ace, via Crystal Palace. Signed for £2.5M in 1991, Wrighty scored on his Arsenal debut in the League Cup at Leicester, bagged a hat-trick on his league debut at Southampton, and scored another hat-trick in the final match of the season to take his total to 31 goals in all competitions.
Seven years, 288 appearances and 185 goals from all Arsenal appearances, Wrighty was Arsenal’s top scorer for six consecutive seasons. Why he never played more than 33 times for England remains a mystery.
WAYNE ROONEY
Games: 491
Goals: 208
GPG: 0.42
The Premier League's second-highest scorer with 208 goals, Rooney burst onto the scene five days before his 17th birthday, scoring that last-minute winner for Everton against David Seaman. That goal ended Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run and made Rooney the youngest PL goalscorer ever. "Remember the name," said commentator Martin Tyler. He was right. We did, and always shall.
Arguably, Wayne Rooney should be higher up the list; he could have gone on to claim the record if he did more to look after himself by doing yoga with Ryan Giggs instead of eating kebabs every summer!
After his Man Utd halcyon days, he returned to boyhood club Everton before stints at D.C. United and, soon, Derby County.
ROBIN VAN PERSIE
Games: 280
Goals: 144
GPG: 0.51
As Michael Owen found out, if you want to win the league, your best shot is with Man Utd. Fergie’s final season delivered the league crown, mostly thanks to the £30M steal of the century, prying RvP from rivals Arsenal.
Even though he came from Feyenoord, this half-man, half-salmon had all of Ajax’s TIPS (Technique, Insight, Personality and Speed). He also had vision, positional sense, mad dribbling skills and a rocket of a left foot – everything you need to score a hatful of uber-goals. He picked up the Golden Boot with 30 goals in his last Emirates campaign, before netting 26 in his debut term to win his first and Fergie’s 13th league title.
HARRY KANE
Games: 166
Goals: 115
GPG: 0.69
Recent England hat-trick hero, Harry Hotspur isn’t just a goal-scoring number 9; he’s also a great number 10. He has all the tools for both positions; movement, vision, playmaking, technique, defending, hold-up play, world-class finishing. If he has two flaws, he's guilty of taking too much on himself, wasting chances, and many of his goals are penalties.
Save for his 2018/19 injury-riddled season, Kane has improved his PL goal tally year-on-year. From 166 total games, he has a lofty 115 goals. Double that, and he’ll only be 30 goals short of Alan Shearer’s 260 – remember, the lad is only 26!
Unless he gets run over by a bus, Harry Kane will surely go on to become England’s all-time top scorer. In a few years, may even top this list, but right now, the big questions are: will Spurs sack Pochettino, and can they keep hold of Harry?
RUUD VAN NISTELROOY
Games: 150
Goals: 95
GPG: 0.63
As a Gooner, I absolutely hated Ruud van Nistelrooy. But that's just a sign of how much respect he deserves. Let’s put his achievements into perspective. Playing in a golden Premier League era, the Golden Boot became a battle between him and Thierry Henry - the Dutchman beating the Frenchman to the 2002/03 trophy in the last game of the season.
With two goals every three games, he was one of the league’s most opportunistic strikers. Technically gifted, he always found space and his psychic anticipation meant he was always first to react... usually ending with a goal and confused defenders pointing fingers at teammates.
After being an unused substitute in Man Utd’s 4-0 demolition of Wigan in the 2006 League Cup final, a bust-up with Fergie saw him leave for Real Madrid for a pitiful £12M.
SERGIO AGUERO
Games: 219
Goals: 151
GPG: 0.69
This brilliant Argentine has played half as many games as Alan Shearer but scores more consistently, with two goals every three games. As for overtaking Shearer’s record, at 31 years of age, and with manager Pep Guardiola now often preferring Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, that’s an impossibility for anyone except maybe Harry Kane or some young upstart we haven't heard of yet.
One of the best predators in the game, Kun Agüero has the DNA of the best South American footballers of all time. Roberto Mancini stated, “Sergio is a photocopy of Romário – they are the same player,” and he has the strength, fight, vision, explosive bursts of pace, and dribbling skills of Maradona, whose daughter he was married to. This may be the silver-haired fox’s last season in the top-flight, but we hope to hear his name, "Aguerrrrroooooooooooooooo!" uttered on comms many more times!
ALAN SHEARER
Games: 441
Goals: 260
GPG: 0.59
Tuesday night. Away at Stoke. The waft of Bovril pervades the wintry air. The opposition keeper pumps a goal kick high into the air on a frozen, muddy, windy, floodlit field. A blink-and-you-miss-it aerial duel, an elbow in the face, and the onion bag bulges as the ball hits the back of the net at a hundred miles an hour. One hand in the air, Alan Shearer peels away on his famous wonky shopping trolley goal celebration and a dizzy defender staunches the flow from his bleeding nose. You have just been Shearered. You should never have clipped his ankles earlier because this is how Big Al vented his anger and wreaked revenge – by always scoring against you!
This is one of the many ways Shearer won his record-breaking, and possibly never-to-be-caught, 260 Premiership goals. Add in unstoppable volleys, thunderbolt free-kicks, 49 headers, and you have the best old-fashioned English Number 9 centre-forward of the modern era.
This tenacious target man’s physical power, direct style, heading ability and blistering shot also led him to 30 goals in 63 internationals. His 206 Newcastle goals included 45 penalties, but don’t let those spot-kicks take away from his deserved status as a Newcastle and England hero.
THIERRY HENRY
Games: 258
Goals: 175
GPG: 0.68
Quite simply, Thierry Henry was a genius. Arriving at Arsenal for £11M, Arsene Wenger transformed this winger into a world-class striker with unrivalled close control, electrifying pace, mesmerizing skills and 228 Arsenal goals in all competitions.
Henry was capable of anything, and he made it all look so easy. Winger, fox-in-the-box poacher, target man, playmaker, creator, goalscorer, entertainer, dummier, back-heeler, dribbler. Oh, and he was instrumental as The Invincibles went unbeaten for 49 matches.
Thierry won two FA Cups, two league titles, and four Golden Boots in five seasons, and his 175 goals earn him fifth spot on the all-time PL scorers list. Other players have scored more, but nobody did it with such style, grace, charm, and swagger as Thierry Henry. He is, without doubt, the Premier League’s best-ever striker and loved by all. Unless you’re Irish!