“Brentford have played eight Premier League home games this season, scoring 26 and conceding 14. If they maintain an average of five goals per game, will Brentford 2024-25 be the most goaltastic season ticket in Premier League history?” asks Martyn Edgar.
Brentford have the best home record in the Premier League, with seven wins out of eight, yet they’ve also conceded in every game. Neutrals tend not to buy season tickets. If they did they’d get value for money at Brentford, such has been the ding-dong nature of most matches.
We mention this because many of the entries with the highest goals-per-game average belong to teams who tended to administer beatings on a fortnightly basis. Take Manchester City in 2022-23: their 19 matches at the Etihad produced 77 goals at a very high average of 4.05 per game. Alas, nobody remembered to buy Uncle Jeopardy a season ticket: City won 17 of the 19 games and were behind for only 98 minutes across the entire season.
With that in mind, we’ve split the answer in two – dominant teams (we’ve counted any side that conceded less than a goal a game on average, which is imperfect but simple, and we’re all about simple) and more neutral-friendly teams.
As you’d expect, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are scattered across the first list, with four entries in the top 10. But they’re not in first place because Carlo’s only gone and done Pep again! Yep, the title-winning Chelsea team of 2009-10, Carlo Ancelotti’s first and penultimate season at the club, had a mighty average of 4.32 goals per home game. There were 82 in 19 matches; Chelsea scored 68 of them and 103 in the league overall.
Ancelotti’s team don’t get enough credit for an extraordinary season in which they belted at least seven goals on four occasions at Stamford Bridge, including an 8-0 demolition of Wigan to clinch the title on the final day. It was an orgy of goals – and yet the most important result of the home season was a good old-fashioned 1-0 win. It came against Manchester United in November; six months later, Chelsea pipped United by a point.
Here’s the top 10.
4.32 goals per game Chelsea 2009-10 W17 D1 L1 F68 A14
High-scoring matches: 7-2 v Sunderland, 7-1 v Aston Villa, 7-0 v Stoke, 8-0 v Wigan
4.05 Manchester City 2022-23 W17 D1 L1 F60 A17
Nott’m Forest 6-0, Man Utd 6-3, Spurs 4-2, Liverpool 4-1, Arsenal 4-1
4.05 Manchester City 2013-14 W17 D1 L1 F63 A13
Man Utd 4-1, Norwich 7-0, Spurs 6-0, Arsenal 6-3, Cardiff 4-2
3.95 Manchester United 1999-2000 W15 D4 L0 F59 A16
Newcastle 5-1, Southampton 3-3, Everton 5-1, West Ham 7-1
3.95 Manchester City 2017-18 W16 D2 L1 F61 A14
Liverpool 5-0, Stoke 7-2, Spurs 4-1, Leicester 5-1, Man Utd 2-3
3.84 Manchester City 2021-22 W15 D2 L2 F58 A15
Arsenal 5-0, Leeds 7-0, Leicester 6-3, Watford 5-1, Aston Villa 3-2
3.79 Chelsea 2016-17 W17 D0 L2 F55 A17
Everton 5-0, Stoke 4-2, Southampton 4-2, Watford 4-3, Sunderland 5-1
3.74 Liverpool 2013-14 W16 D1 L2 F53 A18
Norwich 5-1, West Ham 4-1, Arsenal 5-1, Swansea 4-3, Man City 3-2
3,68 Manchester City 2019-20 W15 D2 L2 F57 A13
Watford 8-0, Burnley 5-0, Liverpool 4-0, Newcastle 5-0, Norwich 5-0
3.58 Liverpool 2019-20 W18 D1 L0 F52 A16
Norwich 4-1, Man City 3-1, Everton 5-2, West Ham 3-2, Chelsea 5-3
Brentford are top of our second list – both lists in fact – with an average of five goals per game, though that will surely regress towards the mean in the second half of the season. At the moment, the highest average for a full season – where the team involved didn’t hammer everyone – belongs to an endearingly ramshackle bunch of crowd-pleasers: the Spurs team of 2007-08.
They started the season wretchedly with only one win in the first 12 games, though even in that time they managed a pulsating 4-4 draw at home to Aston Villa. Martin Jol was sacked and replaced by Juande Ramos, and the brilliant front pair of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov started to drag Spurs up the table.
Berbatov hit four in a 6-4 win over Reading; both scored in an exhilarating 4-4 draw in March 2008 that dented Chelsea’s title hopes. All 19 home games produced at least two goals.
5.00 Brentford 2024-25 W7 D1 L0 F26 A14
High-scoring games: Wolves 5-3, Ipswich 4-3, Bournemouth 3-2, Newcastle 4-2
4.21 Tottenham Hotspur 2007-08 W8 D5 L6 F46 A34
Aston Villa 4-4, Fulham 5-1, Reading 6-4, Chelsea 4-4, Newcastle 1-4
4.14 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2024-25 W1 D1 L5 F11 A18
Chelsea 2-6, Crystal Palace 2-2, Bournemouth 2-4
4.11 Arsenal 2022-23 W14 D3 L2 F53 A25
Leicester 4-2, Liverpool 3-2, Man Utd 3-2, Bournemouth 4-2, Soton 3-3
4.00 Aston Villa 2023-24 W12 D4 L3 F48 A28
Brighton 6-1, Burnley 3-2, Nottm Forest 4-2, Brentford 3-3, Liverpool 3-3
4.00 Sheffield United 2023-24 W2 D4 L13 F19 A57
Newcastle 0-8, Luton 2-3, Arsenal 0-6, Chelsea 2-2, Burnley 1-4
3.89 Newcastle United 1996-97 W13 D3 L3 F54 A20
Aston Villa 4-3, Man Utd 5-0, Spurs 7-1, Leicester 4-3, Nottm Forest 5-0
3.88 Tottenham Hotspur 2024-25 W4 D1 L3 F20 A11
Everton 4-0, West Ham 4-1, Aston Villa 4-1, Chelsea 3-4
3.84 Arsenal 2004-05 W13 D5 L1 F54 A19
Middlesbrough 5-3, Chelsea 2-2, Man Utd 2-4, C Palace 5-1, Everton 7-0
3.74 Manchester United 2011-12 W15 D2 L2 F52 A19
Arsenal 8-2, Chelsea 3-1, Man City 1-6, Wigan 5-0, Everton 4-4
after newsletter promotion
3.74 Newcastle United 2023-24 W12 D4 L3 F49 A22
Aston Villa 5-1, Man City 2-3, Luton 4-4, West Ham 4-3, Sheff Utd 5-1
As you can imagine, there were goals galore in the old First Division, particularly before mankind discovered the concept of the flat back four. In 1930-31, for example, Aston Villa finished runners-up to Arsenal in Division One. Their 21 home matches produced – and you’ll like this – 120 goals at an average of 5.71 per game.
Weirdly, Spurs went from 4.21 goals per game in 2007-08 to 1.63 in 2008-09, a regression beyond the mean that is only partially explained by the sale of Berbatov and Keane. That is among the lowest in the Premier League era, a list that is led by Stuart Pearce’s Manchester City in 2006-07 and Leeds in 1996-97. City’s last home goal of the Premier League season came – and you really will like this – on New Year’s Day. Overall they scored 10 and conceded 16 for a season-long average of 1.37 goals per game.
Leeds fans were treated to 1.47 per game in 1996-97 (15 scored, 13 conceded). Howard Wilkinson was sacked after a 4-0 defeat by Manchester United in September, and his replacement George Graham came armed with industrial quantities of Persil. For the rest of the season there were clean sheets galore, at both ends.
In Graham’s 16 Premier League matches at Elland Road, Leeds scored 14 and conceded seven; that’s an average of 1.31 per game. The last eight matches produced a total of four goals at both ends. In some countries, the video of the 0-0 draw with Blackburn in April remains a form of torture.
“Who is the highest-ranked club in the English league pyramid with the word London in their name?” asks Ricardio Sentulio. “I can’t think of a single one!”
After a speedy zigzag down the men’s English football pyramid, we think the answer can be found in tier nine – specifically, and a bit confusingly, in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division. That league includes Maccabi London Lions FC, who were founded in 1995 and play in Arkley, Barnet. But they have designs on tier eight: Maccabi are fourth, which would be enough for a playoff place, and are in spectacular form. They’ve won their last seven games in all competitions, scoring 33 goals in the process. Sounds like a good place to have a season ticket. In the women’s game it’s much easier to find a higher-ranking example. The London City Lionesses were founded in May 2019 as an independent breakaway club from Millwall Lionesses. They’re currently fourth in the Women’s Championship, (second tier) so only 16 places away from the top of the English domestic game.
“I have a vague recollection of hearing that one of the Kray twins was president of an east London football club but I can’t find any details,” wrote Alan Prince in 2016. “Which club was it? Or have I made it up?”
Don’t worry, Alan, you’re not losing your marbles, but the club with the Kray connection is a long way from the brothers’ old stomping ground. In 1996 the Nottinghamshire club Ashfield 95 were top of the Mansfield Bitter League but struggling to pay their bills and, having exhausted the more usual channels for funding, turned to the gangster who was then incarcerated in Maidstone prison.
“Reggie was my last chance,” the Ashfield manager David Howard told the Independent. “I know he does good charity work and likes to help old people and youngsters.”
Kray had come into some money – around £100,000 – thanks to his friendship with Karl Crompton, who had won £11m on the National Lottery in May 1996, and duly handed the stricken club £1,000. “I’ve had a soft spot for Notts ever since I spent some time in Nottingham prison,” Kray told Howard. “After London, Nottingham is my favourite city.”
Ashfield made Kray the club president by way of thanks, though others were not so impressed. The FA wrote to the club for an explanation as to why a convicted murderer had been appointed president.
The club has long since folded but was still a going concern when Reggie Kray died in October 2000. “Reggie continued to take great interest in the club along with his wife Roberta. Results, fixtures, tables, etc were sent to Reggie via Roberta on a regular basis,” says the club’s defunct website . “Ashfield 95 will always be grateful for Reggie’s help when it was needed most.”
“How many teams have rallied to survive after being bottom of the English top flight at Christmas?” asks George Jones. “And did any of these clubs do it without sacking a manager.”
“Has a new signing ever been announced on Christmas Day? Either before the transfer window existed or perhaps even in the modern era. Surely a club has got the good news of an impending January transfer out there early to cheer up fans,” writes Ian Jolly.
“Jørgen Strand Larsen has scored six goals for Wolves so far, all of them in draws or defeats. What’s the most goals somebody had to score for a new club before one of their goals contributed to a win?” asks Damian Blättler.
“Six of Man Utd’s substitutes v Nottingham Forest wore shirt numbers between 1 and 11. Is this a record for a nine-player bench?” wonders Marc Settle.
