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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.
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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.
4. Chelsea 6-2 Crystal Palace (March 1998)
This was a match between Chelsea, a team in the top four, and Crystal Palace, a team struggling in the relegation zone. Neither Chelsea nor Palace had scored in a combined total of the previous 9 matches which is why it came as a shock when Palace scored in the 7th minute through Hermann Hreidarsson to take a 0-1 lead. But Gianluca Vialli scored twice in the first half along with Gianfranco Zola to give the Blues a 3-1 half time lead.
In the second half, Chelsea substitute Tore Andre Flo also scored a brace while Chelsea skipper Dennis Wise added a sixth. The score line was so humiliating that Palace manager Steve Coppell said, “We were 11 strangers tonight defensively.”
Marcus Bent also scored for Palace, not enough to even count as a small consolation goal, but definitely a goal that ensured that the match would make it to this list!
3. Arsenal 5-3 Charlton Athletic (August 2000)
In another 8-goal thriller, Arsenal beat Charlton Athletic 5-3 at Highbury. It was early days in the 2000-01 season and Arsenal were top of the table with Charlton in 14th spot. It was a game where the spotlight was on Patrick Vieira, who had received a 5-match suspension and was to serve it after this game. And he took his football to another level by scoring two goals in the game.
Arsenal had taken the lead in the first half through Vieira, only for Charlton to lead 1-2 at the break courtesy of goals from Andy Hunt. Wenger must have said some strong words in the dressing room as Arsenal came out roaring and equalised through a Thierry Henry volley after some sweet trickery. But Charlton took the lead again Graeme Stuart scored from Lisbie’s cross.
Vieira then made it 3-3 after a first time shot form Kanu’s cut back pass on the right. Thierry Henry then latched on to a Gilles Grimandi cross and scored from a narrow angle! With the score reading 4-3, Arsenal were not out of it yet as Charlton desperately searched for an equaliser. But Silvinho ensured that the Gunners got all three points when he scored in the 89th minute.
After the game, Wenger praised Vieira, who was contemplating retirement for feeling victimised, “He was outstanding, exceptional. And his mental reaction to a crazy week for him was just great.”
2. Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal (October 2011)
A despondent arsenal side travelled to Stamford Bridge having already lost to Liverpool at home and thrashed 8-2 at Old Trafford. And AVB’s Chelsea gave a sign of things to come when an unmarked Frank Lampard headed home from a Juan Mata cross in the 14th minute. Aaron Ramsey then threaded the defence with a delightful through ball for Gervinho who squared it to van Persie to shoot into an open net. But John Terry ensured that Chelsea took the lead into halftime from a corner.
But Arsenal had the stats in their favour as they’d come from behind to get more points against Chelsea than any other side in the Premier League. And they did just that when Andre Santos equalised three minutes into the second half with a stunning effort to beat Cech. 2-2 and the game was on. And in the 55th minute, Theo Walcott fell and picked himself up in front of three Chelsea defenders to keep going, entered the box and took a shot at the far post.
Arsenal now led 2-3 but Juan Mata wasn’t done yet as he let fly a shot from about 25 yards which was deflected and levelled the score at 3-3 in the 80th minute. But a John Terry slip allowed van Persie to go through one-on-one with Cech, round him with ease and score Arsenal’s fourth. He then completed his hat-trick on an Arsenal counter with a fierce left footed shot that Cech unsuccessfully tried to stop. Arsenal came out unlikely winners with the final score reading 3-5.
1. Tottenham Hotspur 4-5 Arsenal (November 2004)
Not only was this the highest scoring London derby, but it was also one of the most prolific and exciting games to have ever been played in the Premier League. A total of nine goals were scored at White Hart Lane that day, and what was more fascinating to note was that the game saw nine different goal scorers as well.
The first goal wasn’t scored until the 37th minute when Noureddine Naybet scored off a Michael Carrick cross which the Arsenal players missed completely. But on the stroke of halftime, Thierry Henry caught hold of a long ball into the Spurs box, sold the defence a dummy and shot past Robinson to level the score going into the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Paramot fouled Ljungberg in the box and Lauren took the resulting spot kick to give Arsenal a 1-2 lead. Patrick Vieria then made it 1-3 when Naybet allowed him to profit from an error as the Frenchman slotted home from near the edge of the box. Jermain Defoe then scored in the very next minute as he beat two defenders and shot into the top corner.
Ljungberg made it 2-4 in the 69th minute when Naybet was at fault again, allowing Pires and Fabregas to pounce. Fabregas then reversed the ball to Ljungberg to score. Ledley King then scored, again from a Carrick cross, thanks to a Cygan error. And then Robert Pires, forever a thorn in the Spurs side, added a fifth thanks to an Henry assist. Although Kanoute spiced things up with a goal in the 87th minute, it wasn’t enough to secure a draw as the game ended 4-5.
Equal number of shots on target, almost 50-50 possession, and a similar number of shots on goal; it was one of the most evenly matched, high scoring games with literally just one goal separating the two North London sides at the end of an explosive North London Derby!
