Premier League Records: Most goals in a match; most goals in a season

If the sequence is Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov, who’s next?

The correct answer is Sergio Aguero, who in 2015 became the fifth player in Premier League history to bag five goals in a single game.

Most goals by a player in a Premier League game:

Player	For	Against
Andy Cole (94/95)	Manchester United	Ipswich Town
Alan Shearer (99/00)	Newcastle United	Sheffield Wednesday
Jermain Defoe (09/10)	Tottenham Hotspur	Wigan Athletic
Dimitar Berbatov (10/11)	Manchester United	Blackburn Rovers
Sergio Aguero (15/16)	Manchester City	Newcastle United

Andy Cole led the way in 1995 as Manchester United demolished Ipswich 9-0. Four years later, the Premier League’s record goalscorer Alan Shearer scored five en route to beating Sheffield Wednesday 8-0 with Newcastle.

Jermain Defoe was next with his five-goal haul against Wigan in 2009 – with all five coming in the second half.

A year later, Berbatov ran riot against Blackburn as United won 7-1, before Aguero scored five in a devastating 20-minute spell against Newcastle in 2015.

Somewhat surprisingly, despite his goalscoring exploits, Erling Haaland has never managed more than three in a game for Manchester City, though he did bag five against RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

Remarkably, four goals have been scored by a player 34 times in the Premier League era, with both Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne scoring four against Watford and Wolves respectively.

Most goals by a team in a Premier League game

Team (season)	Opponent	Score
Manchester United (94/95)	Ipswich Town	9-0
Tottenham Hotspur (09/10)	Wigan Athletic	9-1
Leicester City (19/20)	Southampton	9-0
Manchester United (20/21)	Southampton	9-0
Liverpool (22/23)	Bournemouth	9-0

We’ve yet to see a team in the Premier League score a perfect 10, but with the gap between top and bottom seemingly getting bigger, it may only be a matter of time, and a number of teams have hit nine in recent years.

Manchester United were the first to do so in March 1995 against Ipswich. Only 3-0 up at the break, Alex Ferguson’s men turned on the style in the second half to run out 9-0 winners.

It took nearly 15 years for a team to hit nine again, when Tottenham did so at home to Wigan, with eight goals coming in the second half.

There’s since been a run of three teams hitting nine in three years, with Leicester being the first to do it on the road, with Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy scoring hat-tricks in October 2019 against Southampton. Southampton were on the wrong end of a 9-0 in February 2021 with Manchester United again scoring nine.

Liverpool came next early in the 2022/23 season, putting nine past Bournemouth.

Most goals by a player in a Premier League season:

Player (season)	Team	Goals
Erling Haaland (22/23)	Manchester City	36
Andy Cole (93/94)*	Newcastle United	34
Alan Shearer (94/95)*	Blackburn Rovers	34
Mohamed Salah (17/18)	Liverpool	32
Luis Suarez (13/14)	Liverpool	31
Cristiano Ronaldo (07/08)	Manchester United	31
Alan Shearer (93/94)*	Blackburn Rovers	31
Alan Shearer (95/96)	Blackburn Rovers	31
Harry Kane (22/23)	Tottenham Hotspur	30
Harry Kane (17/18)	Tottenham Hotspur	30
Robin van Persie (11/12)	Arsenal	30
Thierry Henry (03/04)	Arsenal	30
Kevin Phillips (99/00)	Sunderland	30

*42-game season

In total, 13 players have reached 30 goals or more in a Premier League season, though three of those were done in 42-game seasons. 

Mohamed Salah was the top scorer in 38-game seasons after plundering 32 in his maiden campaign until Erling Haaland broke the record in the 2022/23 season, scoring 36. 

Alan Shearer appears on the list the most times, scoring 30 or more in three seasons, a feat Harry Kane managed twice.

Most goals by a team in a Premier League season

Team (season)	Goals scored
Manchester City (17/18)	106
Chelsea (09/10)	103
Manchester City (19/20)	102
Manchester City (13/14)	102
Liverpool (13/14)	101

Unsurprisingly, Manchester City occupy multiple places in the top five, three times cracking the 100-goal barrier. Manuel Pellegrini’s title-winners of 2014 were the second team to do it after Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea in 2010. 

What was perhaps Didier Drogba’s finest season, the Ivorian scored 29 times with 22 coming from Frank Lampard as Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka also reached double figures with 12 and 11 respectively.

Liverpool once again make a list where reached a milestone and came up short in the title race, scoring 101 goals in 2013/14 as Brendan Rodgers’ free-scoring Reds scored four or more on 11 different occasions. Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge combined for 53 goals, with Steven Gerrard adding 13 with 10 of those coming from the spot.

Although no team has managed to score 10 goals in a match, we have seen a handful of matches that have reached double figures.

Most goals in a Premier League match

Result	Date
Portsmouth 7-4 Reading	29th Sep 2007
Tottenham 6-4 Reading	29th Dec 2007
Tottenham Hotspur 9-1 Wigan Athletic	22nd Nov 2009
Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal	28th Aug 2011
Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle United	29th Dec 2012
West Bromwich Albion 5-5 Manchester United	19th May 2013

Portsmouth's 7-4 thriller with Reading still holds the record with 11 goals scored, while there have been five others that have all reached double figures.