Top 5 highest scoring London Derbies in the Premier League
The Premier League has a number of clubs from England’s capital city of London and thanks to that, every season gives the football fans in London a number of derbies to attend. Some of the usual suspects in the recent past have been Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Fulham have also come into the picture in the last decade or so, along with fleeting appearances in the League from the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace.
Keeping that in mind, this compilation has the top five highest scoring London Derbies in the Premier League era to date. The list is compiled based on the total number of goals scored in the game by both sides.
5. Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Feb 2012)
What is truly remarkable about this score line is that it happened not once but twice in the same year, albeit in different seasons. But it is the game that was played on February 26, 2012 that will be remembered for a long time to come. Spurs, in third place, were in prime form and had a chance to extend their lead to double digits over fourth placed Arsenal if they won the game and help secure qualification to the Champions League.
Tottenham had a dream start when Emmanuel Adebayor found Louis Saha in space. He took a shot which deflected off Thomas Vermaelen and Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny failed to catch it in time as the ball nestled into the back of the net. They extended their lead when Bale went down in the box and a penalty was awarded, with Adebayor taking the spot kick and converting it.
It was all going wrong for the Gunners, staring at a possibly unassailable 13 pint lead, and that is when manager Spurs Redknapp made the mistake of sitting back. Arsenal went on the offensive and the first goal came from a Bacary Sagna header. Just three minutes later, Robin van Persie pounced on a poor clearance attempt from Assou-Ekotto and curled his shot in past Brad Friedel. Half time score: 2-2.
The second half was all Arsenal as Tomas Rosicky gave Arsenal the lead with a run towards the near post before Theo Walcott finished things off with a superb brace which saw him first beat the keeper with a delicate chip and then a shot across goal within three minutes of each other. Things got worse for Spurs as Scott Parker was sent off for a second yellow card and the loss was eventually responsible for Spurs’ downward spiral while Arsenal clinched the final Champions League spot.