• Sign in

• Home
• Write for Sperts
• Sign in
• About
• Contact

Top 10 Goalscorers in England's Premier League - Best Football Strikers

There have been some fantastic goal scorers in the English Premier League but many of them won’t make into the following top 10. The reason being that these top ten goal machines are arranged according to strike rate (average games per goal) which I think is a much more accurate analysis of how prolific a player is in front of goal.

There are players who have scored more goals than the guys in this list but they may have played many more games than their counterparts. So this list is all about being prolific. Whenever these stars of the English Premier League had game time, they were/are likely to find the back of the net!

10. Eric Cantona – Only 70 Premier League goals but only 156 appearances. 64 for Manchester United and 6 for Leeds United. Strike Rate = 2.23 games per goal.

9. Carlos Tevez – 70 goals in 155 games so far. The diminutive Argentine has scored goals for West Ham United, Man United and Man City. His future premier league career is subject to much speculation at the time of writing so only time will tell if he can improve on this tally. Strike Rate = 2.21 games per goal.

8. Andy Cole – 189 goals in 414 games. An impressive Premier League career, spanning 14 years and 7 clubs.(Newcastle, Man United, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Man City, Portsmouth and Sunderland) Strike Rate = 2.19 games per goal.

7. Michael Owen – 148 goals in 317 games. A career blighted by injury still yields a terrific goal scoring record and is perhaps the perfect example of why I have chosen strike rate over goals scored. Liverpool enjoyed his greatest successes but he has gone on to score goals for Newcastle United and Man United. His career is now very much in the winding down phase. Strike Rate = 2.14 games per goal.

6. Didier Drogba – 96 goals in 202 games. At the time of writing, Drogba is one of only 3 strikers in this list to have scored all his Premier League goals for just one club, that club being Chelsea. Strike Rate = 2.10 games per goal.

5. Ian Wright – 113 goals in 213 games. Often controversial, the charismatic forward scored 104 of his goals for Arsenal and added another 9 for West Ham. Strike Rate = 1.88 games per goal.

4. Fernando Torres – 66 goals in 166 games. At present, Torres has the fewest goals in this list but that is sure to change in the coming seasons. 65 of his goals came in 3 and half scintillating seasons in the red of Liverpool. In his first few months as a Chelsea player, the striker only netted once. Strike Rate = 1.76 games per goal.

3. Alan Shearer – 260 goals in 441 games. Many may have expected the prolific Shearer to top this list, but here he is at number 3! His spell at Southampton occurred just before the official beginning of the English Premier League and so just 2 clubs have benefited from his goal scoring prowess, Blackburn Rovers and his home town club, Newcastle United. Strike Rate = 1.70 games per goal.

2. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 95 goals in 150 games. The Dutch striker is still playing and has recently signed for Spanish side Malaga and now aged 35 is unlikely to see a return to the Premier League to improve on his stats. However, during his 5 seasons at Manchester United this goal scoring machine clocked up a strike rate that is going to make it very difficult for other players to nudge him from second place in this list. Strike Rate = 1.58 games per goal.

1. Thierry Henry – 174 goals in 254 games. Joins van Nistelrooy and Drogba as the only players to have scored all their Premier League goals for one club but Thierry Henry’s 174 league goals for Arsenal make him the undisputed king of the goal scoring strike rate! A goal in just under every game and a half, this is going to take some beating! Strike Rate = 1.46 games per goal.

Only Tevez, Drogba and Torres have a realistic chance of improving upon their position in this list but who else could be on the horizon to challenge? Darren Bent (SR = 2.29), Robin van Persie (SR = 2.40) and Wayne Rooney (SR = 2.43) are all still young enough and good enough to have a real go at this top ten in the coming years. 

• Home
• Terms of Service
• Privacy
• Categories
• Writers' Guidelines
• Write for Sperts
• Tag Cloud
• About
• Contact