Last season saw a record number of goals fly in across the Premier League, an average of 3.28 per match totalling 1,246 all told. That’s the good news.
The even better news is that this high volume of strikes was anything but a one-off, instead continuing a trend in recent years that is only going one way – up. To illustrate this we only need examine the goal-hauls of league champions down the years.
In 1992/93, the Premier League’s inaugural campaign, Manchester United topped the pile by converting 68 times between August and May. This is 17 fewer than Newcastle managed last term, the Magpies ultimately finishing in seventh spot.
A couple of years later Blackburn fired 80 goals on route to their singular title triumph and this became the norm until the early 2000s when we witnessed a notable jump.
Suddenly, champions were posting goal-tallies in the mid-to-high eighties, a benchmark that was regularly met, but never surpassed, for several seasons.
As impressive as that benchmark was however is it nothing compared to what has become typical today, with champions – and even top four contenders – routinely threatening to break the century mark. On occasions they do.
Most Goals Scored By A Premier League Team In A Single Season:
- Manchester City - 106 goals in 2016/17
- Chelsea - 103 goals in 2009/10
- Manchester City - 102 goals in 2019/20
- Manchester City - 102 goals in 2013/14
- Liverpool - 101 goals in 2013/14
All of which of course should be celebrated, this bonanza of goals deriving from attacking football and a mandate to win rather than avoid defeat.
In the Premier League’s 33 year history five teams have unleashed a season-long blitzkrieg, scoring 100+ goals. It is absolutely not a coincidence that all five are still fresh in the memory.
Liverpool (101 goals in 2013/14)
For Liverpool supporters, this season will always be recalled with a grimace, a heightened case of so near, so far.
For the rest of us meanwhile what most comes to mind is a snapshot of Steven Gerrard slipping on the Anfield turf, allowing Demba Ba to race through and score.
But if the over-riding narrative of this campaign for the Reds will always be that they threw it away, being short-priced favourites in the Premier League betting with just two games to go only to fall short, perhaps we should chiefly remember what took them to the precipice of winning their first title for a generation.
Luis Suarez bagged 31 league goals in 2013/14, a feat that secured him the Player of the Year merit. A force of nature, the Uruguayan helped himself to two hat-tricks and blasted four past Norwich.
Daniel Sturridge converted 21 times, a ludicrous figure while playing essentially a supporting role.
There were silly score-lines too. Five-nil away at Spurs. 5-3 at Stoke, and 6-3 at Cardiff. With an inherent mentality to outscore one and all, Liverpool entertained from start to finish.
Manchester City (102 goals in 2013/14)
It needed a very special team to fend off a ravenous Liverpool in 2013/14. Bolstered by a spine of Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero – with the fabulous David Silva floating in the pockets – Manuel Pellegrini had just the side to do it.
But boy were they made to work hard for their success, every mistake ruthlessly punished by their red rivals.
A 3-2 loss at Anfield in April appeared to put their title aspirations beyond them but five goals scored by Edin Dzeko in the concluding weeks just about saw them squeak home.
A goal-laden spell at the Etihad from late September to mid-December defined this free-scoring collective, with City remarkably averaging 4.8 goals per 90 at home during this period.
Included among their victims, Tottenham and Arsenal were both on the end of six-goal assaults.
Manchester City (102 goals in 2019/20)
In 1938 City were relegated just one year after winning the league championship. If that were not astonishing enough they also scored the most goals in the top-flight in the year they went down, a colossal 104 goals. They conceded 100.
Such bizarre events have long accompanied this club’s rises and many historical falls. A series of comedic catastrophises in the Nineties even led to a phrase entering football’s parlance and sticking – ‘typical City’.
The Blues’ 2019/20 campaign may not be as crazy-weird as what transpired in 1938 but it’s still plain odd. Typical, you could say.
The season before, Pep Guardiola’s men had hoovered up a domestic treble. Here they racked up the third-highest number of goals in the Premier League era yet still contrived to lose nine games and ultimately finish 18 points off the champions Liverpool.
Chelsea (103 goals in 2009/10)
After years of winning silverware via Jose Mourinho’s devout pragmatism, Chelsea were unleashed in 2009/10, wholly embracing Carlo Ancelotti’s attacking remit.
Bombing forward at every opportunity under his new gaffer, Frank Lampard notched a career-best 22. Didier Drogba was lethal and prolific throughout, winning the Golden Boot with 29.
Elsewhere, double figures were also reached by Nicolas Anelka and winger Florent Malouda, as Chelsea ran riot on a weekly basis, securing the title on the final day by trouncing Wigan 8-0.
Manchester City (106 goals in 2017/18)
Going into 2017/18, City were not overly fancied in the football odds. The season before – Pep Guardiola’s introduction to English football – had seen them finish third.
There were bright moments for sure, but also flaws and failings on display. Doubts still remained as to whether the Catalan would succeed in the Premier League.
This though was the year when everything clicked, his masterplan taking full and devastating effect. By May the Blues were crowned as ‘Centurions’ after becoming the first club to ever reach 100 points and they attained this high-water mark by scoring a veritable avalanche of strikes.
On ten occasions opponents great and good were walloped by four-plus goals, with Liverpool bamboozled early on while a seven-goal dismantling of Stoke lives long in the memory due to the sheer variety – and quality - of goals on display.
The scary thing is that City took their foot off the pedal once another title was guaranteed. It could have been even more.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
