The top goal scorers in Chelsea history

It is rare to find a defender on a list like this, and a centre-back at that. There are a couple reasons for this. One, Terry played at Chelsea for nearly two decades. In total he made 717 appearances for the club. Two, Chelsea’s top-20 is a bit less impressive than other top clubs in England. Terry tallied 67 goals for Chelsea, and for many clubs you aren’t breaking the top-20 with fewer than 100 goals, much less under 75.

In a bit of old-timey sport, Tindall had a clause in his Chelsea contract that allowed him to miss the first and last months of the season… because he was playing cricket for Surrey. That may be partially why he only played in 174 games for Chelsea, but the striker did score 69 goals in that time.

Wise first made his name with the 1987-88 squad for Wimbledon, the FA Cup winners who still stand as legends at the club. After his tenure there, Wise moved to Chelsea. He had double-digit goals in each of his first two seasons, though after that he was a complementary piece at best for many years. Still, he was around for many years! Wise ended up with 76 goals for Chelsea in over 400 appearances.

Arguably the greatest Icelandic player in history, Gudjohnsen was a bit of a journeyman, but he was wanted by top clubs and that speaks to his talent. After all, he was with Chelsea during a time when it won two Premier League titles, and then won La Liga and the Champions League with Barcelona. Now, was Gudjohnsen ever the driving force behind that success? Not necessarily, but he scored 78 goals for Chelsea, including 54 in the Premier League.

Zola is considered one of the best players in Chelsea history, or at least was before the club really took off, but goal scoring was not his trademark skill. No, he was a secondary striker or an attacking midfielder and was renowned for his passing ability. However, due to his skill with ball placement he often took penalties and free kicks, including direct free kicks. Even though Zola never played for a Premier League-winning side, he scored 80 goals while doing so much more on the pitch.

There’s a real caveat to be found with Whittingham, and that’s not the fact he played the majority of his career before World War I. No, it’s the fact he did the bulk of his goal scoring during two seasons wherein Chelsea was in the Second Division. Whittingham scored 81 goals in 129 games for the Blues. A whopping 56 of them came in Second Division play.

No, we didn’t misspell “Gallagher.” Hughie Gallacher was a Scottish striker who really had a nose for the goal. He managed 24 goals in 20 games for Scotland, for example. Gallacher was quite good for Chelsea, where he tallied 81 goals in 144 games. However, he was a legend in the 1920s for Newcastle. There he managed 143 goals in 174 contests.

Alright, enough of the guys who played before World War II. Here’s a guy people who are alive remember playing. Hasselbaink twice led the Premier League in goals, once with Leeds, and once with Chelsea. The Dutch international only spent four seasons with the London club, but he never failed to score at least 15 goals. That got him to 87 goals in 177 appearances.

After getting his start with Arsenal, Baldwin made the move to Chelsea, where he took off. Playing primarily as a midfielder, though sometimes as a forward, he made 239 total appearances for Chelsea, including two trips to the FA Cup final. Baldwin got to 92 goals, which means we’re getting close to the century mark here.

Bridges joined Chelsea full-time for the 1961-62 season, and while he scored 19 league goals in that campaign, the club still got relegated. The team was swiftly promoted thanks to Bridges’ help, but he did pick up some of his Chelsea goals in the Second Division. Ultimately, after bouncing around England, Bridges would score over 200 total competitive goals, but only 93 of those came in Chelsea’s kit.

Alright, we simultaneously enter the top 10 and the century club. Hilsdon had a booming shot for the era and had a couple solid runs with West Ham surrounding his Chelsea tenure. With Chelsea he became the first player to score 100 goals for the club, tallying 108 goals in 164 games. Sadly, Hilsdon was playing for West Ham when World War I broke out and he was conscripted into military service against his wishes. After suffering a mustard gas attack he was never able to play football again. Clearly, Hilsdon was wise to not want to serve. (For those not familiar with Stamford Bridge, Hilsdon's image is found on the weather vane)

Hazard is going to be underrated in a minute, if he isn’t already, owing to his injury-plagued tenure at Real Madrid that ended his career. Prior to that, though, Hazard was one of the best players in the world at any position. He attacked down the left side of the midfield for Chelsea during his time there and was adept at both scoring goals and setting them up. Chelsea won two Premier League titles with Hazard, who racked up individual honours during his time with the club as well. As a midfielder, Hazard scored 110 goals for Chelsea. Maybe some have forgotten how great the Belgian was, but probably not Chelsea fans.

A contemporary of Gallacher, Mills joined Chelsea when it was in the Second Division and scored 14 goals in 20 games. That helped get the club promoted right off the bat. The 1936-37 season saw him score 22 goals, which got him his only brief international run. Of course, like many players of the era, Mills saw his career truncated by World War II. He still managed 125 goals in 239 games, though.

Though he only stood 5’8’’, Greaves was one of the best strikers of his era, perhaps of all time. Case in point? Greaves is the second-highest scorer in Tottenham Hotspur history, and he’s also seventh for Chelsea. Had Greaves stayed with Chelsea, his first club, he would likely top this list. Greaves, who also managed 44 goals for England, scored 132 goals in a mere 169 appearances for the London club.

Osgood got to 150 goals thanks to a late return to Chelsea. Like, he returned to Chelsea after he flamed out in the United States. In the 1970s. Yeah, let’s just say Chelsea was experiencing a bad run and having a club legend return for vibes was something it could justify. During his first decade with the team, goals came free and easy. Hence, he managed 150 goals in total, nearly all of those before his end-of-career cameo.

Bentley had an old-timey career. Not just the fact he essentially never played for Bristol City, his first club, due to World War II. He signed with Chelsea from Newcastle reportedly because a doctor told him moving south would be better for his lungs. Because when you think “healthy lungs,” you think 1940s London. Bentley played something akin to a false-nine role, which was a new idea at the time and messed with opposing defenders. He routinely put up 20-goal seasons and ended up club captain. Also, he lived to 93, so maybe that doctor was right about the whole lungs thing.

Imagine being a defender and seeing a striker as big, strong, and athletic as Drogba coming at you. There’s a reason why he helped put Ivory Coast on the map internationally and became a Chelsea legend. Drogba twice led the Premier League in goals, both with Chelsea. In fact, while Drogba hopped around the world, the only English club he ever played for was the Blues. Thanks to a brief return in 2014-15 wherein he scored seven goals, Drogba tallied 164 goals for the club in total.

Dixon could be a bit of a flat-track bully, because he scored a lot of goals while playing Second Division, and even Third Division, football. Indeed, 53 of his 147 league goals with Chelsea came in the Second Division. However, that also means he scored a bunch of times in the First Division as well. In the 1980s, Dixon had two 20-goal seasons in the First Division. All in all, he scored 193 goals for Chelsea, and they didn’t all come against easy opposition.

For a long time, Tambling was the leading light of Chelsea history. He made 370 appearances for the club spanning from the 1958-59 season to the 1969-70 season. Tambling scored 35 goals in his one season playing in the Second Division, and those goals certainly helped Chelsea pop right back up to the top flight. Scoring in the First Division wasn’t tough for him, either. Tambling is one of only two players with 200 or more goals in Chelsea history, getting to 202 in those 370 appearances.

Maybe once upon a time Zola had an argument for Chelsea’s best player in club history. Arguing for anybody other than Lampard these days is a bold argument. An elite box-to-box midfielder, Lampard is also the top scorer in Chelsea history. His 211 goals came in 648 games, hundreds more than Tambling played. Who cares? Lampard was a midfielder! Lampard led the Premier League in assists three times and won a litany of individual awards. He was key to three Premier League titles and a Champions League victory. Chelsea has had some fine players, but it’s fitting Lampard tops this list.