The most goals scored by a single player in a Premier League match

  • There five players who have netted five goals in a single Premier League game
  • Two Manchester United players feature on the list
  • Alan Shearer and Sergio Aguero were relentless
Defoe is one of five players to score five goals in one PL game
Defoe is one of five players to score five goals in one PL game / Clive Rose/GettyImages
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Goal-fests in the Premier League are always well received by supporters around the world.

But, every now and then, we are treated to a display of finishing so good that we can only sit and watch in awe of the quality on show.

Here are the records around the most goals scored by one player in a single match in England's top flight.


Most goals scored by a single player in a Premier League match

1. Andy Cole - 5 goals vs Ipswich (1994/95)

Andrew Cole
Andy Cole was superb at Manchester United / Getty Images/GettyImages

The first player in the Premier League to ever score as many as five goals in a match was Andy Cole, and he did it whilst playing for Manchester United. It was inevitable that they would feature on this list somewhere.

This 9-0 victory over Ipswich Town at Old Trafford is still the joint-biggest Premier League, on par with the 9-0s that Leicester City and Man Utd handed to Southampton in recent years. Ironically, Ipswich had won the reverse fixture 3-2.

Eric Cantona was serving his nine-month suspension for and that means Cole and Mark Hughes started upfront together. Cole scored five, with the other four coming from Roy Keane, Hughes (2), and Paul Ince.


2. Alan Shearer - 5 goals vs Sheffield Wednesday (1999/00)

Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer was on fire / Clive Mason/GettyImages

Before the new millennium, Alan Shearer became the second player to score five goals in one game. It is fitting for the highest scorer in Premier League history to be on this list.

In September 1999, Newcastle blew Sheffield Wednesday away by winning 8-0 at St. James' Park. Shearer scored five of the goals, two of which were penalties, whilst Gary Speed, Aaron Hughes and Kieron Dyer got the others.

It was a jubilant day in Newcastle because the Magpies had been in poor form, but this was Sir Bobby Robson's first match in charge. There could be no better start.


3. Jermain Defoe - 5 goals vs Wigan (2009/10)

Tottenham Hotspurs' Jermain Defoe (C) sh
Jermain Defoe was a goal-machine / ADRIAN DENNIS/GettyImages

Jermain Defoe will always be remembered as one of the Premier League's great strikers, but Wigan Athletic fans are stuck with the memory of him putting five past them at White Hart Lane.

Tottenham made history when they beat Wigan 9-1, and Defoe actually has something over everyone else on this list. He got all five of his goals in the second half of the game, becoming the first player to do so.

It was only 1-0 at half time, with Peter Crouch having scored. The other Spurs goals came from Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Niko Kranjcar.


4. Dimitar Berbatov - 5 goals vs Blackburn Rovers (2010/11)

Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Berbatov was a silky footballer / Alex Livesey/GettyImages

Dimitar Berbatov was a truly wonderful footballer that some people are too quick to forget. He is the only one on the list who is not your conventional, out-and-out striker. He would drop very deep to build attacks, and that is what he did when Man Utd beat Blackburn Rovers 7-1.

The best goal saw him receive the ball near his own box and play a great one-two with Patrice Evra, before hitting a pass to Nani with the outside of his foot. He eventually met Nani's delivery in the box and scored his third. He didn't break a sweat.


5. Sergio Aguero - 5 goals vs Newcastle (2015/16)

FBL-ENG-PR-MAN CITY-NEWCASTLE
He didn't look too happy about it / OLI SCARFF/GettyImages

Another striker that you would perhaps expect to be on such a list is Sergio Aguero. He was so ruthless for Man City during his time there, and he grabbed five of their six goals when they beat Newcastle 6-1.

His extra bit of trivia is that all five of his goals were scored within the space of 20 minutes. The Argentine got his first in the 42nd minute, when Man City were 1-0 down, and his fifth in the 62nd minute. Kevin De Bruyne had knocked one in somewhere in the middle.


Most goals scored in a single Football League game

Football did indeed take place before the Premier League was created and a number of large goal hauls were recorded in the 1930s.

Joe Payne netted a ludicrous ten goals in Luton Town's 12-0 victory over Bristol Rovers back in April 1935. You'd say the quality is worse for one player to be able to net every nine minutes on average, but it doesn't seem too far away from the statistics Manchester City's Erling Haaland is putting up.