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The Premier League top scorers - Who leads the all-time list, and who's on top among current players?

The Barclays Premier League is arguably the most competitive league in the world

The Barclays Premier League is arguably the most competitive league in the world, and boasts some of the best forwards currently playing the game. The names of Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney immediately pop to the mind when you talk of the leading marksmen plying their trade in England.

The league, since its inception in 1992, has also witnessed legendary strikers like Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Robbie Fowler and many more. Long serving midfielders like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes have also scored a huge number of goals by virtue of their longevity in the Premier League.

So where do these players rank in terms of total goals scored in Premier League history? Let’s have a look at the top scorers in the Premier League overall as well among the players who are still active in the game. (All stats have been collected from the official website of the Premier League)

All-time Premier League top goal scorers

Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer with 260 goals

Alan Shearer leads the goalscoring charts in Premier League history with 260 goals, a whopping 73 strikes ahead of his nearest competitor Andy Cole. The only player with a realistic chance of catching up with the Newcastle United legend is Wayne Rooney, who along with Frank Lampard and Robin van Persie are the three players in the Top 10 list who are still playing the game.

The Manchester United skipper is only two behind Cole with 185 goals to his name, and he's just 29 years old now. Lampard and Van Persie are unlikely to return to the Premier League and that leaves the door open for Rooney to try and close the gap between himself and Shearer.

Thierry Henry, ranked No. 5 with 175 goals for Arsenal, is the only player in the Top 10 to have scored all his league goals for a single club. The Frenchman also has the highest goals/games average, which is a remarkable 0.678.

The only midfielder in the list, Frank Lampard has understandably the lowest average at 0.29.

The 6th and 7th spots are occupied by Liverpool legends Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen respectively, while journeymen strikers Les Ferdinand and Teddy Sheringham occupy the next two places. 

The top 10 is rounded off by Van Persie who played for title rivals Arsenal and Manchester United. 

Here’s the full table:

No Player  Clubs Season Appearances Goals Gls/Games
1 Alan Shearer 

Blackburn Rovers

Newcastle United

1992 – 1996

1996 – 2006

132

301

112

148

 
  441 260 0.589
2 Andy Cole

Newcastle United

Manchester United

Blackburn Rovers

Fulham

Manchester City

Portsmouth

Sunderland

1993 – 1995

1995 – 2001

2001 – 2004

2004 – 2005

2005 – 2006

2006 – 2007

2007 – 2008

58

195

83

29

20

18

7

43

93

27

12

9

3

0

 
  414 187 0.451
3 Wayne Rooney

Everton

Manchester United

2001 – 2005

2005 – Present

67

336

15

170

 
  403 185 0.459
4 Frank Lampard

West Ham

Chelsea

Manchester City

1993 – 2001 

2001 – 2014

2014 – 2015

148

429

32

24

147

6

 
        609 177 0.29
5 Thierry Henry Arsenal

1999 – 2007

2011 – 2012 

251

4

174

1

 
  258 175 0.678
6 Robbie Fowler

Liverpool

Leeds United

 

Manchester City

Liverpool

Blackburn Rovers

1992 – 2001/02

2001/02 – 2002/03

2002/03 – 2005/06

2005/06 – 2007

2008 – 2009

235

30

 

76

25

3

120

14

 

21

8

0

 
  379 163 0.43
7 Michael Owen

Liverpool 

Newcastle United

Manchester United

Stoke City

1996 – 2005 

2006 – 2009

2009 – 2012

2012 – 2013

216

70

31

8

118

26

5

1

 
  326 150 0.46
8 Les Ferdinand

Queens Park Rangers

Newcastle United

Tottenham Hotspur

 

West Ham United

Leicester City

Bolton Wanderers

1992 – 1995

 

1995 – 1997

1997 – 2002/03

 

2002/03

2003 – 2004

2004 – 2005

109

 

68

118

 

14

29

12

60

 

41

33

 

2

12

1

 
  351 149 0.424
9 Teddy Sheringham

Nottingham Forest

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur

Portsmouth 

West Ham United

1992/93

1992/93 – 1997 

1997 – 2000/01

2000/01 – 2003

2003 – 2004

2005 – 2007

3

164

104

70

32

32

1

75

31

22

9

8

 
  418 146 0.349
10 Robin van Persie

Arsenal

Manchester United

2003 – 2013

2013 – 2015

180

86

96

48

 
  246 144 0.585

Top 10 Premier League goal scorers who are still active in the game

Wayne Rooney tops the table among active players & is just 2 goal behind Andy Cole in the all-time list

Rooney tops this list which also has Emmanuel Adebayor, Peter Crouch and Sergio Aguero – all of them still playing in the top tier of English football. The United striker might be top in terms of goals scored but Manchester City's Argentine international, who sneaks in at No. 10 in the list, has the highest goals per games ratio (0.64) among the contenders.

Here’s the Top 10 list:

No Player Clubs Season Appearances  Goals
1 Wayne Rooney

Everton

Manchester United

2001 – 2005

2005 – Present

67

336

15

170

  403 185
2 Frank Lampard

West Ham

Chelsea

Manchester City

1993 – 2001 

2001 – 2014

2014 – 2015

148

429

32

24

147

6

  609 177
3 Robin van Persie

Arsenal

Manchester United

2003 – 2013

2013 – 2015

180

86

96

48

  246 144
4 Darren Bent

Ipswich Town

Charlton Athletic

Tottenham Hotspur

Sunderland

Aston Villa

Fulham

Aston Villa

2001 – 2002

2005 – 2007

2007 – 2009/10

2009/10 – 2010/11

2010/11 – 2013

2013 – 2014

2014 – 2015

5

68

60

58

54

24

7

1

31

18

32

21

3

0

  276 106
5 Didier Drogba Chelsea

2004 – 2012

2014 – 2015

215

28

100

4

  254 104
6 Emmanuel Adebayor

Arsenal

Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspur

2005 – 2009

2009 – 2011

2011/12 – Present

103

34

92

46

15

35

  239 96
Peter Crouch

Aston Villa

Southampton

Liverpool

Portsmouth

Tottenham Hotspur

Stoke City

2001 – 2004

2004 – 2005

2005 – 2008

2008 – 2009

2009 – 2011/12

2011/12 – Present

37

27

80

38

73

133

6

12

22

11

12

33

  388 96
8 Yakubu

Portsmouth

Middlesbrough

Everton

Blackburn Rovers

2003 – 2005

2005 – 2007/08

2007/08 – 2011

2011 – 2012

67

68

82

30

28

25

25

17

  252 95
9 Dimitar Berbatov

Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United

Fulham

2006 – 2008/09

2008/09 – 2012

2012 – 2013/14

70

108

51

27

48

19

  229 94
10 Sergio Aguero Manchester City 2011 – Present 121 78

Top 10 goal scorers who are still playing in the Premier League

Sergio Aguero has the best goals/games ratio among the Top 10 goal scorers who are still playing in the EPL
No Player Appearances Goals
1 Wayne Rooney 403 185
2 Emmanuel Adebayor 239 96
3 Peter Crouch 388 96
4 Sergio Aguero 121 78
5 Gabriel Agbonlahor 302 73
6 Kevin Nolan 395 69
7 Yaya Toure 164 52
8 Steven Fletcher 175 50
9 Theo Walcott 209 50
10 Gareth Barry 529 50

Note: Stats updated as on 14th August 2015

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