Ranking the Premier League’s top Boxing Day scorers

Boxing Day football in England is a tradition that dates back over 160 years to when Sheffield FC and Hallam FC faced each other on 26th December 1860.

Sheffield, founded in 1857 and recognised as the world’s oldest football club, won the game 2-0.

It wasn’t until after the First World War that Boxing Day fixtures became a regular feature of the football calendar, and they have since become one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights of the English football season.

Each year, fans across the country flock to stadiums or gather around their screens to enjoy the festive fixtures, with matches often delivering dramatic moments, iconic performances and plenty of goals.

Ahead of this year’s bonanza, we have taken a look at the top 10 Boxing Day goalscorers in Premier League history.

10

Frank Lampard

5 goals

Frank Lampard enjoyed a run of scoring on three consecutive Boxing Days between 1999 and 2001 – twice for West Ham United and once for Chelsea.

His other two Boxing Day goals were scored for the Blues – in 2005 in a 3-2 victory against neighbours Fulham and in 2008 in a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

9

Steven Gerrard

5 goals

Despite Steven Gerrard’s long Liverpool career, he didn’t notch on Boxing Day until 2004, when he scored in the Reds’ 5-0 smashing of West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Scoring five in total, his final strike on Boxing Day came in 2012 when Brendan Rodgers’ side were beaten by Stoke City.

The best of Gerrard’s Boxing Day strikes probably came in 2005 when Liverpool beat Newcastle United 2-0 at Anfield. The former England international latched on to a pass from Peter Crouch, took one touch into the box and thumped the ball into the top corner.

8

Andrew Cole

5 goals

Andrew Cole scored for three different clubs on Boxing Day, with his first three coming for Manchester United in 1990s. He also netted for Blackburn Rovers and United’s rivals, City, before hanging up his boots.

Cole’s Boxing Day goal for Blackburn Rovers against Liverpool in 2002 is one of the best Boxing Day goals in Premier League history.

The Reds were 1-0 up late into the second half when Cole chested down Stephane Henchoz’s clearance before hitting a sublime volley into the net from 30 yards out.

7

Dimitar Berbatov

5 goals

Three of Dimitar Berbatov’s five Boxing Day goals all came on one day when the Bulgarian striker hit a hat-trick as Manchester United beat Wigan Athletic 5-0 in 2011.

Park Ji-sung had opened the scoring inside eight minutes, with Berbatov hitting a brace before half-time to make it 3-0. Antonio Valencia completed the scoring in the second half.

Berbatov had also scored a year prior against Sunderland, while he also netted in 2012 in a 1-1 draw with Southampton while playing for Fulham.

6

Jermain Defoe

6 goals

Jermain Defoe’s tally of 162 Premier League goals ranks as the 10th-highest in the competition’s history.

Six of those strikes came across 10 Boxing Day games – one for West Ham and five for Tottenham Hotspur, including twice against Aston Villa in a 2-1 win back in 2006.

Defoe also got in the act in Boxing Day thumpings against Fulham and Villa once more, but could not add to his tally after 2012.

5

Thierry Henry

7 goals

Like Berbatov, three of Thierry Henry’s seven Boxing Day goals came on one day.

Arsenal thumped Leicester City 6-1 in 2000, with Henry scoring a sublime hat-trick. The Frenchman also provided two assists on the day, teeing up Patrick Vieira and Tony Adams. The hat-trick was Henry’s first of eight for Arsenal.

He also bagged against Leicester City, Wolves and Fulham during his time in N5, as the Gunners won every time the King scored on Boxing Day.

4

Alan Shearer

8 goals

Given Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer with 260 goals, it’s hardly surprising that he’s also one of the division’s most prolific Boxing Day goalscorers.

He netted a brace in 1992 against Leeds and scored in back-to-back Boxing Day victories over Manchester City in 1994 and 1995. He continued his post-Christmas exploits for Newcastle, scoring four more times.

“For me as a player, I absolutely loved playing over the Christmas period,” Shearer told the Premier League’s official website back in 2018.

On playing on Boxing Day specifically, he said: “When you’re driving to the ground, whether that’s in your own car or on the team bus, it just seemed a bit more of a party atmosphere. Everyone seemed up for it. There was a little bit of a different atmosphere. There was huge excitement and I enjoyed it all.”

3

Robbie Keane

8 goals

Robbie Keane scored just as many goals as Shearer on Boxing Day, but in two fewer games.

The most memorable of those came against Arsenal in 1999, when the young Irishman netted what proved to be the decisive goal in a memorable 3-2 win for Coventry City.

While playing for Tottenham in 2007, he also hit a brace in a 5-1 thrashing of Fulham, with his second goal being the 100th of his Premier League career.

2

Robbie Fowler

9 goals

Robbie Fowler had held the Boxing Day record for the most goals until Harry Kane came along, with nine coming during his playing days for Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester City.

Interestingly, Robbie Fowler scored goals for and against Leeds on Boxing Day. In 1997, he scored both goals for Liverpool as they beat the Whites 2-0 at Anfield.

Four years later, this time wearing white, he scored a Boxing Day hat-trick as Leeds beat Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at Elland Road not long after his controversial switch.

1

Harry Kane

10 goals

Harry Kane is the Premier League’s highest Boxing Day scorer with 10 goals.

The former Tottenham Hotspur hitman surpassed the record previously held by Fowler in 2022 with a goal in a 2-2 draw against Brentford.

Kane’s goals came on consecutive individual Boxing Day appearances, with his seven games being the longest such streak in Premier League history.