The highest-scoring Premier League games

The first nine-goal game in Premier League history came toward the end of the second Premier League season. In April 1994, Southampton visited Norwich for a wild game. As you will see, a lot of these games are routs, with one team doing the bulk of the scoring. Not this one! This one was highlighted by a hat trick from Matthew Le Tissier, Southampton legend and one of the members of the Premier League’s 100-goal club. Also, a game-winning goal in the 90th minute from Kenneth Monkou.

There have been four 9-0 stompings in Premier League history. Obviously, they all make this list. Manchester United’s throttling of Ipswich came first, 4 March 1995. Ipswich was one of the worst Premier League teams ever, finishing with 27 points and a minus-57 goal differential back when there were 22 teams in the league so everybody played 42 games. United finished second in the table with a league-best goal differential bolstered by this one. Andy Cole scored five of United’s goals.

After each appearing in one of the first two nine-goal games, Southampton and Manchester United joined forces for the third one. Surprisingly, it’s the Saints who came out on top in October 1996. This time Le Tessier only scored one goal, as did a couple of rising Man U players named David Beckham and Paul Scholes.

With Blackburn having last played in the Premier League in the 2011-12 season, it’s easy to forget how good the club was for quite some time. After all, in the Alan Shearer days, they finished in the top four in each of the first three Premier League campaigns, winning the league once. The 1997-98 season was a last gasp of the glory days, as they finished sixth before being relegated the next year. That included this 7-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday, Premier League originals who haven’t played first-tier football since the turn of the millennium.

This game took place during the 1998-99 season, and even if you aren’t a United fan, we may not need to tell you that this was when it won the treble. Part of that was one of the biggest road wins in Premier League history. A who’s who of Man U icons scored in this game. Cole had two goals, as did Dwight Yorke. However, the game became a rout when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added four goals by himself from the 80th minute on. Talk about no mercy.

Here’s another exciting one, and this time, the home team got the win too. West Ham, a mid-table team, may have barely beaten a Bradford City team that avoided relegation by a mere three points, but a win is a win. It was quite the comeback too, as Bradford led 4-2 at one point. The winning goal, by the way, was scored by a young Frank Lampard.

The West Ham-Bradford barnburner happened in February of 2000. One month later, almost to the day, we got another nine-goal outing. Sure, this one wasn’t close, but that’s still remarkable. Back then, Spurs were a mid-table team, but they got a memorable victory at home here, helped by a hat trick from Steffen Iversen.

For the neutral observer, this is perhaps the best North London Derby ever played. For Spurs fans, it was a brutal home loss to their greatest rivals. This was November 2004, the season after Arsenal’s Invincibles. Notably, not a single player had more than a goal in this game, and it was never larger than a two-goal lead for the Gunners.

Do recall, Manchester City was an unremarkable club until recent ownership took over. In the 2007-08 season, City finished ninth in the table, with a minus-8 goal differential it can partially blame on this road routing. Middlesbrough were no great shakes, either, as it finished 13th. And yet, somehow, we got this 8-1 game out of these two clubs.

Taking place 16 January 2010, this was the first nine-goal game of a new decade. Chelsea joined the ranks of teams to throttle an opponent by five or more goals in a game with this many balls finding the back of the net. Notably, three guys with over 100 goals in the Premier League scored in this one: Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard for Chelsea, and Darren Bent for Sunderland.

Arsenal is not the kind of club that sees itself on the losing end of a game like this comfortably. Indeed, this was during the 2013-14 season, when the Gunners finished fourth, but logged the most days atop the table. Of course, in the end, City won the title. This game was quite close to not making the cut, or even being remarkable. Both teams potted a goal in the 90th minute.

Later in the 2013-14 season, we had another 6-3 game, this time with the road team winning. This result was less surprising. Liverpool finished second in the table, while Cardiff finished last. Luis Suarez scored a hat trick, while Martin Skrtel unexpectedly added two goals of his own.

Chelsea took home the title the next year, and it came out of the gate with a win that proved prescient. On 30 August 2014, the Blues paid a trip to the Toffees at Goodison Park. Diego Costa scored in the first minute, and things just progressed from there.

Oh yeah, 5-4 games can happen! It was almost 12 years between such matches, with this game taking place in January 2016. This was a super-exciting game. Norwich actually tied it up 4-4 in the 92nd minute, but then Adam Lallana scored in the 95th minute to give Liverpool the win.

Then, the very next season, we got another 5-4 game, and this one was even more exciting. Sure, neither Swansea nor Palace were title contenders, but this game played out in riveting fashion. It was 1-1 at the half. Swansea took a 3-1 lead, and then Palace rallied to tie it up again. The London club then took the lead, but Fernando Llorente scored two stoppage-time goals to get Swansea the big 5-4 home win. Halves of football have rarely been more exciting.

A few seasons earlier, Everton fans had to watch their team lose 6-3 at Goodison Park. This time, they got to see a 6-3 victory. Also, it was one of the best games in the career of Romelu Lukaku, which is really saying something. He tallied four goals for the Toffees, helping pave the way for a wonderful home victory.

Famously, in the 2017-18 season, City hit the 100-point threshold, making Premier League history. They also set a new record with a plus-79 goal differential, so Stoke, who was relegated, wasn’t the only club to be beaten soundly. In fact, City had two 5-0 wins, and a 6-0 win on the road against Watford. If anything, Stoke might have felt good that it scored twice!

Right before the final whistle was blown on the 2017-18 season, this game happened 13 May, in which we got a barnburner between two clubs that finished in the top half of the table. Also, two braces from a couple of Premier League legends. Those legends would be Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane. They opened, and closed, the scoring.

This is the second of the four 9-0 games in Premier League history, and the bleakest of the bunch. This is the only time a home team has been on the losing end of such a game. Poor Southampton fans. By the time Vardy completed his hat trick with a 94th-minute penalty, we bet most of them had simply stopped caring — or gone home.

This is a surprising result, but it comes from a season in which unusual events felt less, well, unusual. This game took place in October 2020. Yes, this was the season delayed, and severely impacted, by the COVID-19 pandemic. Villa fans were not in the stadium to enjoy this 7-2 win. Liverpool would rebound, and end up finishing third in the table.

Yes, twice in less than two years Southampton was on the losing end of a 9-0 score. This game took place on 2 February 2021, which was still when games were being played behind closed doors. Somehow, both times they lost 9-0, Southampton was not relegated.

On Boxing Day 2021, City fans got the gift of a nice win in a high-scoring game. Gifts were divvied out on the goal front as well. All nine goals came from nine different players, though none of them were an own goal, which is a different kind of “gift.”

The last, to date, 9-0 throttling we’ve seen in the Premier League. This was early in the season, 27 August 2022. It was a strong start to the season for Liverpool, who looked unstoppable early, and an ominous one for Bournemouth. However, in the end the Reds finished fifth, missing out on Champions League football, and the Cherries finished 15th, comfortably out of the relegation zone.

This is the most-recent nine-goal game on the list. United fans have lamented a lot since the retirement of Alex Ferguson, but this was probably the nadir for many of them. Its cross-town rivals were once afterthoughts. Now, City was stomping United en route to winning another title. In fact, this game was worse than it looks. Man City was up 6-1 until the 84th minute.

A couple days before 2008 began, Spurs and Reading left it late. Seven of these goals were scored in the 63rd minute or later. Dimitar Berbatov actually had a hat trick in the last half hour of the game, plus a seventh-minute goal that meant he scored four in this one.

A couple seasons later, Spurs found themselves back in a 10-goal game. This one went even better for them. Not only that, but Jermain Defoe managed to one-up Berbatov. He scored five goals in this one, all in the second half.

This game has its own Wikipedia page, which was presumably constructed by an enthused United fan. This was an August game, and after the loss, with the transfer window still open, Arsene Wenger signed four players, including current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. Maybe those signings panned out, as the Gunners ended up finishing third. Manchester United actually tied Manchester City with 89 points, but lost the title on goal differential. Say it with us, “Aguero!”

That’s more like it, isn’t it Arsenal fans? This time, the Gunners were on the sunny side of a 10-goal rout. Theo Walcott scored one of the two Arsenal goals in that 8-2 loss, and the next season he had a hat trick in this 7-3 win. That’s a lot more fun.

This is the only draw on the list. On 19 May 2013, we got a five-all draw. For West Brom it was nice, getting a point at home against a club like Man U. As for United, everything ended up fine; it would win the league title. Manchester United actually could have won it by two more points, but West Brom scored three times after the 80th minute to earn the draw.

We end with the highest-scoring game in Premier League history. Only one 11-goal game has occurred, and it took place on 29 September 2007. This one was looking like a run-of-the-mill, high-scoring affair for a bit, but then sixth goals were scored from the 70th minute on, including two in stoppage time to put this one over the top. Benjani had a hat trick for Portsmouth. This game, in a way, ended up really mattering. Portsmouth finished in the middle of the table, eighth in fact, while Reading was relegated in 18th. It actually finished tied on points with Fulham but had a worst goal differential by… three goals.