Highest Scoring Premier League Games of All Time

Some matches are cagey, tactical chess games. Others are pure chaos. The highest scoring Premier League games of all time sit firmly in the second category, delivering goal-fests that fans never forget.

TL;DR: Portsmouth's 7–4 win over Reading in 2007 is the highest scoring Premier League game ever, with 11 goals.

Portsmouth 7–4 Reading: The Record

On 29 September 2007 at Fratton Park, Portsmouth and Reading combined for eleven goals — still the most in a single Premier League match. Benjani Mwaruwari scored a hat-trick, while an own goal from Ívar Ingimarsson and a late Sulley Muntari penalty sealed the chaos. Remarkably, Reading also conceded an own goal, and the two clubs would repeat the madness just three months later.

The Ten-Goal Classics

Several games have featured ten goals, according to the official Premier League records:

• Tottenham 6–4 Reading (29 December 2007) — Dimitar Berbatov scored four
• Tottenham 9–1 Wigan (22 November 2009) — Jermain Defoe bagged five
• Manchester United 8–2 Arsenal (28 August 2011) — Wayne Rooney hit a hat-trick
• Arsenal 7–3 Newcastle (29 December 2012) — Theo Walcott scored three
• West Brom 5–5 Manchester United (19 May 2013) — Sir Alex Ferguson's final game

Biggest Wins: The 9–0 Club

While not the highest-scoring overall, the biggest margin of victory in Premier League history is 9–0, achieved four times:

1. Manchester United 9–0 Ipswich Town (1995)
2. Leicester City 9–0 Southampton (2019) — the record away win in English top-flight history
3. Manchester United 9–0 Southampton (2021)
4. Liverpool 9–0 Bournemouth (2022)

Records Behind the Goal Rush

Tottenham's 9–1 demolition of Wigan holds two striking records: nine goals in a single half, and eight scored by one team in a half. For neutrals, these matches are unforgettable — for goalkeepers like Reading's Marcus Hahnemann, who shipped 13 goals across two of these games, they're best forgotten.

Why Fans Love a Goal-Fest

High-scoring games expose both brilliance and collapse. Tactical discipline disintegrates, defenders lose their heads, and suddenly a 1–0 becomes a cricket score. These matches are the ultimate talking points on matchday.