In football, there are no prizes given out for artistic merit. If there were, Tottenham might have walked away from their meeting with Leicester City in August 2024 with more than a point from the 1-1 draw. After enjoying 70% possession of the ball, firing in 15 shots at the Leicester goal and winning a whopping 13 corners, Tottenham’s dominance was quantifiable – but the only numbers that matter are those of the final score.
It was an interesting result in that it brought down the average goal-per-game count in fixtures between Spurs and the Foxes to 3.7 – meaning that it has gone from the outright highest-scoring match in Premier League history to the joint highest. If you’re a fan of goals in football – and who isn’t? – these are the most likely fixtures in Premier League history (as of 2024) to deliver bucket-loads of them.
Leicester City vs Tottenham (3.7 Goals Per Game)
As mentioned, before their 1-1 stalemate in August 2024, the average goal-per-game count in contests between Leicester City and Tottenham was 3.8 – making it the most prolific fixture of the Premier League era. However, with just the two goals netted in that 2024/25 curtain-raiser for the sides, the overall tally had become 130 goals in 35 meetings between them; just shaving the average down to 3.7.
The die was cast when they met for the first time since the rebrand of the old First Division to the Premier League – in September 1994, the Foxes enjoying home advantage and running out 3-1 winners. There’s been plenty of other high-scoring games between the sides, with seven of their games since the dawn of the new millennium witnessing at least six goals in them.
Of those, a 4-4 draw between the sides in February 2004 will live long in the memory; the Foxes embarking on a miraculous comeback after finding themselves 1-3 down at half-time at White Hart Lane. Leicester fans will be less keen to remember the 2-6 shellacking they experienced at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September 2022 – although the East Midlanders did take the lead and find themselves locked at 2-2 at half time.
However, Spurs turned on the after-burners in the second period, with a Son Heung-min hat-trick seeing them scorch clear. But the jewel in the crown of the incredible history between the sides came back in May 2018, when they played out one of the most entertaining spectacles in Premier League history.
A game befitting its Wembley Stadium host – this was the period when Tottenham were effectively homeless, Leicester led 3-2 after two goals were scored in quick succession after the half-time interval. But as would later happen in their September 2022 clash, Spurs played like men possesses in the second period – scoring through Harry Kane, Erik Lamela and a Christian Fuchs own goal. There was still time for Leicester to score again through Kelechi Iheanacho, but Tottenham held out to claim a titanic 5-4 victory.
Sunderland vs Chelsea (3.7 Goals Per Game)
One other Premier League fixture can lay claim to producing that 3.7 goal-per-game average. The accolade belongs to Chelsea vs Sunderland, which in 32 games has played host to some 118 goals. In their first season playing against one another in the Premier League in 1996/97, the fixture served up a 3-0 home win for Sunderland followed by a 6-2 victory for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Although the Black Cats have more than played their part in some high-scoring contests between the sides – they’ve 3-2 and 4-2 victories to their credit during the Premier League era, the truth is that it’s big wins for Chelsea that have helped to pump up that goal-per-game output to almost record levels.
Along with that 6-2 triumph already mentioned, a quintet of other Chelsea wins over Sunderland in the Premier League era have surpassed the five-goal mark:
- Chelsea 5-0 Sunderland (November 2008)
- Sunderland 2-3 Chelsea (May 2009)
- Sunderland 2-4 Chelsea (February 2011)
- Sunderland 3-4 Chelsea (December 2013)
In January 2010, there was the biggest win of them all: Chelsea 7-2 Sunderland. An extraordinary game saw the Blues romp into a 4-0 goal lead courtesy of Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard.
Quite what Sunderland boss Steve Bruce said to his players only they know, but it certainly seemed to perk them up: the Black Cats netting twice in the second period. But that only seemed to make Chelsea mad, as they rattled in three more goals of their own, with Anelka and Lampard completing their braces and Michael Ballack also on the scoresheet.
Manchester City vs Fulham (3.4 Goals Per Game)
Two fixtures have averaged 3.4 goals per game since the Premier League’s rebrand in 1992. Manchester City and Fulham have enjoyed wildly contrasting fortunes during the EPL era, but one thing that has remained consistent is that when they’ve met, the pair have served up stacks of goals – 108, in fact, in 32 meetings at the time of writing.
Although there hasn’t been any nine-goal thrillers between them, the majority of games have seen four or more goals. And in a remarkable run between February 2012 to May 2024, Manchester City won 13 consecutive Premier League games – an English football record – against Fulham, netting a mammoth 39 goals in the process.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace (3.4 Goals Per Game)
The other Premier League fixture that averages 3.4 goals per game comes when Liverpool look horns with Crystal Palace. At the time of writing, they’d played each other 30 times – a series of games that have delivered 101 goals in total.
Of that 30, seven had witnessed at least five goals in them, with a trio of seven-goal contests revealing the up-and-down nature of life in the Premier League. Liverpool have beaten Palace 6-1 (back in 1994) and 7-0, with that 2020 meeting playing host to braces from Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino.
But the Eagles would have taken plenty from another seven-goal game against Liverpool in January 2019. They took the lead at Anfield through Andros Townsend, and battled all the way until the end with an injury-time strike from Max Meyer. Unfortunately for them, the Reds proved too strong – Sadio Mane’s late goal their fourth in a thrilling 4-3 victory.
