5 players with most match-winning goals in Premier League history

The Premier League is the richest football league in the world and is widely considered the most competitive one too. Every team has the potential to beat the other on any given day. Such is the quality of competition in the English top flight.

Thanks to its lucrative television and sponsorship deals and owners with deep pockets, the Premier League has been graced by some of the best players in the world.

Over the years, many top players, especially goalscorers, have graced the English top flight, scoring goals and helping win titles galore.

On that note, here's a look at the five players with the most match-winning goals in the competition thus far:

Spoiler Alert: Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't make the top five.

#5 Sergio Aguero - 48

Sergio Aguero has had a successful stint in the English top flight.

Sergio Aguero is a bonafide Premier League legend. The Argentine took the English top flight by storm after arriving at Manchester City in the summer of 2011. He featured in 186 wins in the league, scoring the game-winner on 48 occasions.

Of course, the most memorable of them came in his first season in the competition. He scored a dramatic injury-time winner on the last day of the season to seal Manchester City's first league win in 44 years.

Almost a decade later, playing his last game in the English top flight, the five-time winner scored a brace. That helped him surpass Wayne Rooney (183) for the most goals in the league for a single club.

Aguero also holds the record for most hat-tricks (12) in the competition. He is also one of only five players to score five times in a Premier League game.

#4 Thierry Henry - 59

Thierry Henry is one of the most lethal attackers and best foreign players to have graced the Premier League.

The Frenchman, a bonafide Arsenal legend, scored 175 league goals for the club across two stints spanning nine seasons. All but one of these strikes came during his first stint between 1999 and 2007 when he won a record four Golden Boots and two Premier League titles.

Henry played a key role in Arsenal's historic 'Invincibles' campaign in 2003-04. He scored 30 goals as the Gunners became the first English top-flight team to go unbeaten in a season.

Henry featured in an impressive 157 wins in the English top flight, scoring the game-winner in 59 of those games.

#3 Frank Lampard - 61

Frank Lampard is arguably the best goalscoring midfielder to have graced the English top flight in the last three decades.

During a glorious two-decade career in the league, the Englishman scored an impressive 177 goals in 609 games for three different clubs. Most of those strikes came for Chelsea during a 13-year association between 2001 and 2013 when he won three league titles.

Lampard is one of only four players and is the only midfielder to score over 50 match-winners in the Premier League.

The current Everton manager scored his last goal in the league in 2014-15 for Manchester City.

#2 Wayne Rooney - 66

Wayne Rooney scored over 200 goals in the English top flight.

Wayne Rooney had a successful 17-season career in the English top flight. He is one of only two players to score over 200 goals in the league.

A 16-year-old Rooney scored a wonder goal for Everton against Arsenal in 2002, ending their 30-match unbeaten run to announce his prowess, and never looked back.

Manchester United came calling the next summer, and Rooney soon hit greater heights. He tallied double-digit goal tallies in 11 of his 13 league campaigns for the Red Devils but never won the Golden Boot.

Recently inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame, Rooney featured in 284 wins in the competition, netting the game-winner on 66 occasions.

The current Derby County manager is a five-time Premier League winner. His last goal in the competition came for his boyhood club Everton in 2017-18.

#1 Alan Shearer - 68

Alan Shearer of Newcastle United celebrates after scoring.

Alan Shearer is the all-time top scorer in Premier League history. With 260 strikes for two different clubs, the Englishman is 52 clear of his second-placed compatriot Rooney in the competition's all-time scoring list.

One of the most lethal centre-forwards of the 90s and early 2000s, Shearer terrorised opposition defences with his ability and composure in the attacking third. The 52-year-old has many records in the Premier League.

Featuring in 203 league wins, Shearer netted the game-winner in more than one-third of those games. His 11 hat-tricks in the competition were the most by a player until Aguero (12) recently overtook him.

However, Shearer is the only player to win three consecutive Premier League Golden Boots and score 30 times in three successive seasons. He is also the only player to score 100 times in the competition for multiple clubs.

For all his goalscoring exploits, Shearer won the Premier League only once - with Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95.

About the author

Bhargav is a veteran sports journalist and editor at Sportskeeda, with a rich professional experience of 17 years, working for the likes of Siemens and Bombay Dyeing. An avid football and tennis follower for over three decades, Bhargav uses his vast knowledge and experience, attention to detail, an unbiased yet interesting writing style, and thorough research to craft insightful articles, which have raked in over 20 million reads so far.

Bhargav supports Italy at national level, a team steeped in tradition and history according to him. He still harbors the heartbreak from the Azzurri’s 1994 FIFA World Cup final defeat against Brazil, and protagonist-turned-antagonist from the game, ‘Divine Ponytail’ Roberto Baggio is his all-time favorite player. His favorite manager is Marcelo Lippi, who ended Italy’s 24-year wait for the World Cup trophy, winning it in 2006.

Outside Europe’s top five leagues, he follows the MLS following Lionel Messi’s move in 2023 but favors Cristiano Ronaldo in the G.O.A.T. debate. During his free time, Bhargav enjoys driving off to new places and singing.

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Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh