Best and Worst Attacking Records in the Modern Premier League

Premier League attacking output is the statistic broadcasters build highlight reels around, but it is also one of the predictors of where a club finishes the table. Since the league's 33-season history began, the eventual champion has finished in the top two for goals scored in the overwhelming majority of seasons, and only a handful of title winners have finished outside the top three. At the opposite end, relegation has repeatedly been decided by poor attacking statistics. Derby County's 20-goal horror show in 2007/08 remains the benchmark for the worst premie league season for any club, sitting alongside Sunderland's 21-goal 2002/03 season and Huddersfield Town's 22-goal 2018/19 campaign. The list below highlights the most prolific single-season attacks in league history, including Manchester City's record-breaking 106-goal campaign, Chelsea's 103-goal title run under Carlo Ancelotti, and Erling Haaland's individual 36-goal scoring record, with the driest spells where promoted and relegation-bound sides could barely find the net. All goals-scored figures are taken from the Premier League's official statistics and FBref's season archives; individual scoring totals are sourced from the Premier League's all-time player records.

Most goals scored in a Premier League season (team totals)

1. Manchester City 2017/18 — 106 goals. Guardiola's squad · 100 pts · champions
2. Chelsea 2009/10 — 103 goals. Ancelotti · champions · 68 scored at home
3. Manchester City 2019/20 — 102 goals. Guardiola · runner-up
4. Manchester City 2013/14 — 102 goals. Pellegrini · champions
5. Liverpool 2013/14 — 101 goals. Rodgers · runner-up
6. Manchester City 2021/22 — 99 goals. Guardiola · champions

Source: Premier League official statistics, FBref season archives.

Fewest goals scored in a Premier League season (worst attacks)

1. Derby County 2007/08 — 20 goals. Relegated · 11 pts · 1 win all season
2. Sunderland 2002/03 — 21 goals. Relegated · 19 pts
3. Huddersfield Town 2018/19 — 22 goals. Relegated · 16 pts · top scorer had 4 goals
4. Sunderland 2005/06 — 26 goals. Relegated · 15 pts
5. Norwich City 2019/20 — 26 goals. Relegated · 21 pts

Source: Premier League official statistics.

On this page

1. Manchester City 2017/18 — 106 goals scored
2. Chelsea 2009/10 — 103 goals scored
3. Erling Haaland 2022/23 — 36 goals, the individual scoring record
4. Mohamed Salah 2017/18 — 32 goals, the 38-game benchmark
5. Alan Shearer — 260 goals, the all-time top scorer
6. Manchester City's attacking era, 2013 to 2022
7. Mohamed Salah — sustained scoring and the Golden Boot record
8. Derby County 2007/08 — 20 goals scored
9. Huddersfield Town 2018/19 — 22 goals scored
10. Recent promoted-side attacking struggles

01. Manchester City 2017/18 — 106 goals scored

Pep Guardiola's centurions, 100 points, 32 wins, 106 goals scored

Manchester City's 2017/18 title-winning campaign remains the most prolific single season in Premier League history, with 106 goals scored across 38 fixtures at an average of just under 2.8 per game. The attack was spearheaded by Sergio Agüero, with 21 league goals in 25 appearances despite starting the season as second choice, while Raheem Sterling added 18, Gabriel Jesus 13 and Leroy Sané 10. Behind the front line, Kevin De Bruyne recorded 20 assists that season, equalling the Premier League record then held by Thierry Henry. City scored three or more goals in a single match on 21 separate occasions, and their +79 goal difference remains the largest in league history. Guardiola's possession-based approach, built around David Silva's tempo control and full-backs inverting into midfield, turned a title race into a procession finished 19 points clear of second-placed Manchester United.

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02. Chelsea 2009/10 — 103 goals scored

Carlo Ancelotti's first season · Premier League title · record home goal tally

Chelsea's 2009/10 title win under Carlo Ancelotti, in his debut season as a Premier League manager, stands as the second-most prolific attacking campaign in league history at 103 goals scored. The Blues were particularly devastating at Stamford Bridge, where their 68 home goals remain a Premier League record for a single season that no club has since matched. Didier Drogba led the line with 29 league goals to win the Golden Boot, with Frank Lampard contributing 22 from midfield, Florent Malouda 12 and Nicolas Anelka 11. Between them, the Drogba-Lampard partnership was directly involved in 68 of Chelsea's 103 goals across the season. The campaign also delivered a domestic double, with Chelsea beating Portsmouth in the FA Cup final to complete the first Double in the club's history.

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03. Erling Haaland 2022/23 — 36 goals, the individual scoring record

Manchester City's debut-season striker · treble winner · Golden Boot

Erling Haaland's first Premier League season stands as the most prolific individual scoring campaign the competition has ever produced. The Norwegian striker finished 2022/23 with 36 league goals in 35 appearances, six clear of Harry Kane in second place, and broke a record that had stood since the 42-game era: the 34-goal mark jointly held by Alan Shearer (1994/95, Blackburn Rovers) and Andrew Cole (1993/94, Newcastle United). Haaland also became the first player to reach 35 goals in a top-flight English season since Ron Davies managed 37 for Southampton in 1966/67, and his 44 combined goals and assists that season equalled Thierry Henry's record for total goal contributions in a 38-game campaign. City completed the continental treble that season, and Haaland was named Premier League Player of the Season by a record voting margin.

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04. Mohamed Salah 2017/18 — 32 goals, the 38-game benchmark

Liverpool's front three · Golden Boot · Champions League final run

Before Erling Haaland's arrival, Mohamed Salah's 2017/18 season had stood as the benchmark for individual scoring in the modern 38-game era. Salah scored 32 league goals in his debut Liverpool campaign, the first player to break the 31-goal barrier that had previously been shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (2007/08) and Luis Suárez (2013/14) in a 38-fixture season. Salah's tally came as part of a Liverpool front three alongside Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané that carried Jürgen Klopp's side to the Champions League final that season, where they lost to Real Madrid. Salah won the Golden Boot and was named PFA Players' Player of the Year, and his 32-goal mark remained the 38-game-season individual record until Haaland surpassed it five years later.

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05. Alan Shearer — 260 goals, the all-time top scorer

Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United · career spanning 1992 to 2006

Alan Shearer holds the Premier League's all-time individual scoring record with 260 goals, a tally built across spells with Blackburn Rovers (112 goals, including the 1994/95 title-winning campaign) and Newcastle United (148 goals, from 1996 until his retirement in 2006). Shearer was the first player to reach 100 Premier League goals, doing so in 124 appearances during the 1995/96 season, and remains the only player to have scored 100 goals for two different Premier League clubs. His 1994/95 season, in which he scored 34 goals for Blackburn, stood as the joint single-season scoring record for nearly three decades before Haaland broke it. Shearer also holds the record for the most Premier League hat-tricks in a single season, with five in 1995/96. More than three decades after his professional debut, no active player is within 140 goals of his all-time total.

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06. Manchester City's attacking era, 2013 to 2022

Sustained 90-plus-goal seasons under Pellegrini and Guardiola

Manchester City's modern era has produced the most sustained run of prolific attacking seasons in Premier League history. Across nine seasons from Manuel Pellegrini's 2013/14 title campaign (102 goals scored) through Pep Guardiola's 2021/22 title win (99 goals), City have posted five separate seasons of 99 goals or more, a level of consistency no other club has matched in the same period. The personnel changed across that stretch, from Yaya Touré's 20-goal midfield campaign in 2013/14 (only the second midfielder in league history to reach that mark, after Frank Lampard in 2009/10) through to Haaland's arrival in 2022/23, but the underlying attacking structure, built on possession retention and rapid ball progression into the final third, has remained the club's identity throughout four Premier League titles in the Guardiola era's most recent four-year stretch.

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07. Mohamed Salah — sustained scoring and the Golden Boot record

Liverpool's longest-serving modern forward · four Golden Boots

Mohamed Salah's Liverpool career has produced the most consistent goalscoring output of any forward in the post-2017 Premier League. Salah has won four Golden Boot awards, most recently in 2024/25, a tally that ties Thierry Henry's all-time record of four. His 2024/25 campaign came after Erling Haaland had won back-to-back Golden Boots in 2022/23 and 2023/24, before Haaland reclaimed the award in 2025/26 with 27 goals, five clear of Brentford's breakout forward Igor Thiago. Salah has now moved into fourth place on the Premier League's all-time scoring list with close to 200 career goals, behind only Shearer, Kane and Wayne Rooney, and remains the highest-scoring foreign-born player in league history.

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08. Derby County 2007/08 — 20 goals scored

Worst attacking season in Premier League history · 11 points · relegated

Derby County's 2007/08 relegation campaign holds the record for the worst attacking season in Premier League history, managing just 20 goals across 38 fixtures alongside an all-time-low points total of 11. The Rams won only one league fixture all season, a September 1-0 home victory over Newcastle United, and were mathematically relegated by 29 March, the earliest relegation date in league history. No individual Derby player reached double figures for goals that season, and the club's failure to score also produced a Premier League-record run without a win. The 20-goal tally remains the lowest attacking output any club has managed across a full 38-game Premier League season.

09. Huddersfield Town 2018/19 — 22 goals scored

Promoted side · 16 points · second-worst attacking record since the league began

Huddersfield Town's 2018/19 season produced the second-worst attacking record in Premier League history, with the Terriers managing just 22 goals across the campaign. The club picked up only three league wins all season, and their goalscoring struggles were summed up by the fact that Karlan Grant, who did not join the club until the January transfer window, finished as top scorer with just four goals, one ahead of centre-back Zanka. Huddersfield's promotion-season predecessor, 2017/18, had already produced a then-league-record-equalling 28 goals for a non-relegated side, so the drop to 22 goals a year later completed one of the steepest single-season attacking declines the competition has seen.

10. Recent promoted-side attacking struggles

Sheffield United, Luton, Southampton and others facing a widening quality gap

The pattern of newly promoted Premier League clubs struggling to convert chances has hardened in recent seasons. Sheffield United managed only 28 goals during their 2023/24 relegation campaign, Luton Town scored 26 in the same season, and Southampton's 2024/25 campaign produced one of the lowest-scoring, lowest-points totals in league history. The gap in squad cost between the Premier League's established mid-table clubs and newly promoted sides has widened considerably in recent broadcasting cycles, and that gap shows up directly in attacking output as much as in defensive figures. Clubs that have avoided the pattern, such as Brentford in their 2021/22 debut season and Nottingham Forest's more recent Premier League campaigns, have generally done so by investing early in forwards capable of scoring at the required level rather than relying on squad depth alone.

The final whistle

Attacking output correlates strongly with final league position, though slightly less reliably than defensive record across the league's history. The clubs that have produced sustained title challenges in the modern era, Chelsea under Mourinho and Ancelotti, Manchester City since 2013, and Liverpool's 2017-2020 Klopp side, have all done so on attacking bases scoring 90 or more goals per season at their peak. At the individual level, the gap between the Premier League's greatest goalscorers and the rest of the field has narrowed in recent years: where Alan Shearer's 260-goal career total once looked untouchable, Erling Haaland reached the milestone 100-goal mark faster than any player in league history, doing so in just 111 appearances. At the other end of the table, the recurring pattern of promoted clubs managing fewer than 30 goals across a season has become more pronounced as the financial gap between the established Premier League and the Championship has widened, making Derby County's 20-goal 2007/08 campaign a record that looks increasingly secure.

Frequently asked

Which Premier League team has scored the most goals in a single season?

Manchester City's 2017/18 title-winning campaign remains the record, with 106 goals scored across 38 fixtures. Chelsea's 2009/10 season under Carlo Ancelotti is second on 103 goals.

Who holds the Premier League's all-time individual goalscoring record?

Alan Shearer holds the all-time record with 260 goals, scored across his career at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United between 1992 and 2006. He remains the only player to score 100 goals for two different Premier League clubs.

Which Premier League side has scored the fewest goals in a single season?

Derby County's 2007/08 relegation campaign holds the record with just 20 goals scored across 38 fixtures, alongside an all-time-low 11-point total.

Who holds the record for most goals scored by an individual in a single Premier League season?

Erling Haaland holds the record with 36 goals in the 2022/23 season, his debut Premier League campaign with Manchester City. The previous record of 34 had stood since the 42-game era of the 1990s.

Which player has won the most Premier League Golden Boot awards?

Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah share the record with four Golden Boots each. Salah's most recent award came in 2024/25, before Erling Haaland reclaimed the title in 2025/26.

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All ticket prices are set by individual sellers on the secondary market and may be above face value. All statistics in this article are sourced from Premier League official records and FBref season archives, current as of July 2026.