Goals galore and more: the English Premier League is back!

The dust has barely settled following the exciting conclusion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but football waits for nobody and battle is already resuming in Europe’s biggest national leagues. With the 35th season of the English Premier League kicking off on 21 August, we’ve combed through the GWR database for the best goal records in the competition’s history.

Who scored the first EPL goal?

Created as a replacement for the old First Division, the first English Premier League season kicked off at 3 p.m. on 15 August 1992. After just four minutes, Sheffield United striker Brian Deane scored the first English Premier League goal, nodding home against Manchester United. Sheffield United won the game 2–1, but it was their opponents who would go to be crowned the EPL’s first champions.

The goals have kept on coming ever since. The 10,000th in EPL history came in 2001, courtesy of Tottenham’s Les Ferdinand, while Aston Villa’s Marc Albrighton hit the 20,000th in 2011. The 35,000th EPL goal arrived on 7 January 2026, courtesy of an Erling Haaland penalty for Manchester City against Brighton. The Norwegian goal machine has led a one-man assault on the record books since arriving in English football in 2022. In his debut season, Haaland scored the most goals by a player in an English Premier League season (38 games), striking 36 times in just 35 games.

Who has scored the most EPL goals?

Despite scoring 112 EPL goals in just four seasons, Haaland still has a way to go if he wants to overhaul Alan Shearer’s record for the most Premier League goals – 260. The former England captain netted 112 for Blackburn Rovers and 148 for Newcastle United, making him one of only three players in the history of the English top flight – along with David Jack and Jimmy Greaves – to score more than 100 goals for two different clubs.

One of Shearer’s former striking partners, the current Wales boss Craig Bellamy, can lay claim to an EPL record of his own. Bellamy netted for seven teams between 2000 and 2014: (deep breath…) Coventry City, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, West Ham United, Manchester City and Cardiff City. This is the most different clubs scored for in the English Premier League.

On the other side of the coin, the most different clubs scored against in the English Premier League is 39, by ex-West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City midfielder Frank Lampard. The England international was renowned for his late runs and ruthless finishing from outside of the box.

A more recent addition to the EPL record-breaking club is Arsenal’s Max Dowman. The precocious winger scored a late breakaway goal against Everton last season to become the youngest goalscorer in the English Premier League, aged just 16 years 73 days. The oldest goalscorer in the English Premier League is former England international Teddy Sheringham, who was 40 years 268 days when he struck for West Ham United against Portsmouth in 2006.

Read about more record-breaking moments in football in our Sports and Fitness section.

When it comes to clubs, Manchester City hold the record for the most goals scored in a Premier League season (team), netting an incredible 106 times in 2017/18. They finished the season with a goal difference of +79. To date, City have scored a total of 1,997 goals in the EPL era – still a long way behind their city rivals, Manchester United, whose 2,365 goals are the most goals scored by a team in the English Premier League.

What's the record for most goals in an EPL season?

The most prolific EPL season to date was 2023/24, which saw 1,246 goals fly in – an average of 3.28 a game! This beat the previous record of 1,222 from 1992/93, when there were 22 teams in the league (and 82 more fixtures as a result). One of the reasons for this jump in goals was an increase in the amount of injury time being played. Substitutes struck 159 times – more than ever before.

Whatever surprises the 2026/27 EPL season holds in store, you can bet on one thing: there will be more headlines, more controversies, more goals – and more records…

Header image: Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko celebrates after scoring a goal last season. Credit: News Images/NurPhoto/Shutterstock