We’ve witnessed some incredible Premier League games over the years. There have been some exhilarating 1-0 games, but nothing’s as exciting as a goal fest. Back-and-forth goal fests can be thrilling, but it’s even more incredible when one team is scoring all the goals. We all had our hands over our mouths when Liverpool scored seven goals without reply against Manchester United. There was no explanation for that scoreline. United were even in better form going into that game. It was just a freak football event.
We don’t get many such freak events, but there have been some unbelievable scorelines. In fact, Liverpool’s 7-0 win against Manchester United doesn’t make the top ten biggest scorelines of all time. There have been several huge scorelines over the years, including FOUR 9-0 wins. Let’s have a look at the eleven biggest wins in the Premier League of all time.
Spoiler alert: Southampton appear three times.
Middlesbrough 8-1 Manchester City
First up on the list of the biggest wins in Premier League history features Man City being on the receiving end of a drubbing. With last season in mind, you must think this is a joke. Well, it’s not. Manchester City hasn’t always been the dominating force they are today. Long before Sheikh Mansoor took over the blue side of Manchester, on the final day of the 2007/08 season, Manchester City visited Gareth Southgate’s Middlesbrough.
It was a complete rout. The Cityzens first got into trouble when Richard Dunne conceded a penalty, converted by Stewart Downing, and received his marching orders. With a goal and a man down, Manchester City’s troubles were just beginning. City tried to put up a fight, but two more goals by Afonso Alves and Stewart Downing killed any hopes of a heroic comeback. The floodgates opened, and Middlesbrough needed no second invitation.
Afonso Alves ran clear for his second of the night before Adam Johnson piled on the misery by making it five. Fabio Rochemback made it six with a fierce free kick and by the time Jeremie Aliadiere made it seven, the City players and fans alike must’ve been begging for the final whistle. Elano surprisingly pulled one back for Manchester City, but Alves completed his hattrick to stump any feelings of a late surge.
It ended 8-1 to Middlesbrough. Fifteen years later, Manchester City has just won the title for the third time in a row and won the first treble since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1999 feat. The progress is staggering.
Manchester City 8-0 Watford
On September 21st, 2019, Manchester City were finally on the right side of an eight-goal demolition. They received Watford at the Etihad as defending champions and they delivered a lesson in football, a humiliating one. Watford came into that game with their second manager of the season and off the back of three games without a win. Only four months earlier, Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens had beaten them 6-0 in the FA Cup final. So they already knew what Manchester City were capable of, but even they couldn’t have foreseen what happened in that game.
Within eighteen minutes, Manchester City were five goals up and Watford were reeling. David Silva started things off in the first minute before Aguero doubled the lead from the spot in the seventh minute. Five minutes later, Mahrez made it three. Bernardo Silva added a fourth in the fifteenth minute and Otamendi made it five three minutes later. By then we were wondering when it would end.
Whether it was Watford who found some pride and fought harder or Manchester City who took the foot off the pedal, the remaining 72 minutes saw the reigning champions score only three more goals. Bernardo Silva scored two to complete his hattrick before De Bruyne added an eight with 5 minutes left on the clock.
Chelsea 8-0 Wigan
Unfortunately for Wigan, this isn’t the only time they’ve been on the receiving end of one of the biggest wins in the Premier League. Chelsea under Carlo Ancelloti in 2010 was a different animal on the pitch. While Jose Mourinho achieved incredible defensive feats with Chelsea, Don Carlo turned them into an attacking unit that nobody wanted to face. That season, they scored seven goals thrice. Wigan were unlucky to be the one team they went a step further against.
Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda, and Ashley Cole each got on the scoresheet while Nicolas Anelka bagged a brace. The star of the show and match ball winner was Didier Drogba with a hattrick. It was Ancelloti’s Chelsea at their very best, and there was no stopping them.
Chelsea 8-0 Aston Villa
Chelsea repeated their incredible achievement two years later against Aston Villa. Against Wigan, Didier Drogba stole the show with his hattrick. In this game, however, Chelsea had seven different scorers. Fernando Torres, David Luiz, Ivanovic, Lampard, Oscar, and Hazard all scored a goal each, and Ramires bagged a rare brace.
Southampton 8-0 Sunderland
Sunderland came into this fixture having just won their first game of the season against Stoke City. Southampton, on the other hand, had just suffered only their second loss of the season to Tottenham. Ronald Koeman must’ve said something right, though, because the Saints went on to trample on their opponents. Graziano Pelle scored a brace while James Cork, Dusan Tadic, and Victor Wanyama each got a goal.
Stoke City also lent a hand with three own goals by Santiago Vergini, Liam Bridcutt, and Patrick van Aanholt. That, in itself, might be a record. It was the perfect response to the loss at White Hart Lane, and then some.
Newcastle United 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Before Manchester City, Chelsea, and Southampton had their triumphs, Newcastle scored eight goals past Sheffield Wednesday as far back as 1999. We’ve seen hattrick heroes like Bernardo Silva and Didier Drogba on our list, but Alan Shearer puts all of them in his shadow with his performance on this day.
The current highest-ever scorer in the Premier League, Alan Shearer was at the peak of his powers back then. He scored five of the eight goals, and I guarantee the Sheffield Wednesday players and fans alike were sick of him by the end. Aaron Hughes, Kieron Dyer, and Gary Speed each got one goal to finish up the emphatic win.
Tottenham 9-1 Wigan
If you thought eight goals by one team in a game was incredible, the craziest score lines are still yet to come. When Wigan visited Spurs at White Hart Lane, they were probably expecting to lose, but I’m sure the margin surprised them. Peter Crouch started the scoring in the ninth minute and things went quiet until Jermaine Defoe went crazy and scored a hattrick in eight minutes.
Aaron Lennon got one for himself before Defoe continued his insane run with two more goals to wrap up a massive night for himself, but Spurs weren’t done. Niko Kranjcar added a ninth in extra time to round up an awful night for Wigan. Paul Scharner got a goal back for Wigan in the fifty-seventh minute, but it’s safe to bet that did little to console the fans.
Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth
9-0 has appeared four times in the list of the biggest Premier League wins, although Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool team weren’t at their usual best last season, but they can look back on this game with plenty of pride. In only the second game of last season, Liverpool welcomed Bournemouth to Anfield. Things got off to a terrible start for Bournemouth when Luiz Diaz scored the first goal of the game only three minutes in. Liverpool’s second goal came only three minutes later, Harvey Elliott the culprit this time.
Bournemouth seemed to calm the game down and were even looking to start causing Liverpool some problems when Trent Alexander-Arnold scored Liverpool’s third. That should’ve been game over, but Liverpool had tasted blood and they went in for the kill. Roberto Firmino made it 4-0 three minutes after Trent’s goal and Virgil Van Dijk smashed in Liverpool’s fifth right on the stroke of half-time.
Liverpool came into the second half hungry for more and were rewarded when Chris Mepham turned the ball into his own net. Things calmed from then on, but Liverpool scored two more goals in the last ten minutes of the game. Fabio Carvalho further twisted the knife with goal number eight, and Diaz rounded things off with his second goal of the game.
The scoreline was shocking enough, but even more unbelievable was the fact that Liverpool’s talisman, Mohammed Salah, finished this game with no goal contributions.
Manchester United 9-0 Southampton
Southampton have appeared before on our list, but they’re on the receiving side this time. The Saints headed over to Old Trafford for a class against a Manchester United squad looking for their first win in three games. Ole’s men were determined to get back into winning form, and they did so in superb style. When Alexandre Jankewitz got sent off two minutes into the game, it was clear that Southampton were in for a long night.
To their credit, the Saints held on for a little while before collapsing, sixteen minutes of relentless pressing was all it took. Manchester United got their first goal from one of the least likely players to score, Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Marcus Rashford doubled their lead and an own goal by Jan Bednarek. There would be one more goal in that first half, a nice effort by Edinson Cavani.
Manchester United came into the second half with a renewed desire to score goals, and they got five more. Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay, and Bruno Fernandes all scored to make it a seven-goal flogging. Martial then got his brace before substitute Daniel James got in on the action to make it nine.
Jan Bednarek eventually got a red card with four minutes to play, needlessly if you ask me.
Southampton 0-9 Leicester City
As extraordinary as all the score lines on this list are, this is the only time a team went away and scored nine goals without reply. In October 2019, Leicester City went over to St. Mary’s Park for a Premier League clash. Ben Chilwell got the first goal, and just before Southampton could make any attempts to come back into the game, they lost Ryan Bertrand to a red card. It all went downhill from there. The floodgates had been opened.
Five minutes after the red card, Youri Tielemans doubled Leicester’s lead, slotting the ball calmly into the net from inside the box. Ayoze Perez then rifled in a third after playing a neat one-two with Tielemans. In the thirty-ninth minute, Perez got his second goal after blasting in Chilwell’s sumptuous cross. Southampton’s defence was all over the place and Jamie Vardy got in to make it 5-0.
Perez then went on to grab his hattrick with a deft touch to control Harvey Barnes’ ball over the top before firing it into the bottom corner. One minute later, Vardy made it 7-0, and the St. Mary’s faithful left the stadium, too heartbroken to even watch. Maddison scored an eighth goal and not to be undone, Vardy got his hattrick to round up a historic night for the Foxes.
It’s not as impressive as their run to the title, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town
Manchester United was the first club to ever score nine goals without reply in the Premier League, going as far back as 1995 against Ipswich Town. That was twenty-eight years ago. The Old Trafford faithful had plenty to cheer that evening with their team putting in a five-star performance and then some.
Roy Keane got the party started and Mark Hughes got two goals and two assists, but the star of the show was Andy Cole with five goals by the final whistle. Paul Ince also contributed with a goal of his own. Ipswich Town were toothless on the night, and Manchester United punished them for it.
Final Thoughts
We all love a good goal fest. It’s exhilarating for the fans on the winning side but devastating for the losing fans. That, however, is the beauty of football. Did you watch any of these astonishing games? Do you think the 9-0 record will ever be broken?
