Newcastle 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday (1999)
Ruud Gullit resigned after Newcastle lost four of their first five games in the 1999/00 campaign, paving the way for Bobby Robson to arrive on Tyneside in September. The Magpies had lost two more before this game, but made Bobby’s St. James' Park debut against Sheffield Wednesday one to remember as the Gallowgate Godfather pulled off a famous victory.
Five goals from Alan Shearer (including two penalties), plus efforts from Aaron Hughes, Kieron Dyer and Gary Speed helped the Geordies kick-start their season. They eventually finished 11th.
Chelsea 8-0 Wigan (2010)
Chelsea knew a victory on the final day of the season would secure them their first title since 2006. Suffice to say, they didn’t muck about in getting it done.
Didier Drogba got a hat-trick and Nicolas Anelka added two more, while Ashley Cole, Salomon Kalou and Frank Lampard were also among a beleaguered Latics’ nemeses. Unsurprisingly, Wigan ended the season with a goal difference of -42… and this wasn’t even their worst humbling of the campaign.
Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea became the first team in English history to score seven or more goals on four occasions in a league season. They also became the first Premier League side to bag 100 in a season after putting away a club-record 103 in the campaign.
Tottenham 9-1 Wigan (2009)
Tottenham finished fourth in 2009/10, meaning they qualified for Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 1962. This result certainly did that achievement no harm as they ended the campaign three points ahead of Manchester City.
Let it be remembered that Spurs were only 1-0 ahead at half-time in this obliteration of a carefree Wigan. Forty-two minutes passed between Peter Crouch’s ninth-minute opener and Jermain Defoe’s first of five goals on this most profitable of afternoons at White Hart Lane. Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Niko Kranjcar were also on target in north London.
It was only the second time that a Premier League side had scored nine goals, and the third that a player had netted five in a Premier League match. Wigan still finished six points above the relegation zone.
Chelsea 8-0 Aston Villa (2012)
Aston Villa suffered their biggest Premier League defeat just before Christmas at Stamford Bridge – and it would have been even worse had Lucas Piazon not seen an 89th-minute penalty saved.
After a smashing 3-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield a week earlier, Paul Lambert's side went into this game full of confidence; confidence which was quickly shattered when Fernando Torres opened the scoring within three minutes. David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic added more before the break, while Frank Lampard, Ramires (two), Oscar and Eden Hazard all got among the fun before full-time.
It was the first – and still the only – time that seven players from one team have scored in a Premier League match. The result was Rafa Benitez's biggest victory in English football, eclipsing the 6-0 win he achieved with Liverpool against Derby in 2007.
Southampton 8-0 Sunderland (2014)
Well, it's nice to see Southampton on this list for the right reasons (Er, no spoilers please – Ed.).
No fewer than three own goals powered the Black Cats onto this list, with the first a truly spectacular 18-yard volley from Santiago Vergini into the bottom corner. Another own goal from Liam Bridcutt, a brace from Graziano Pelle, strikes from Jack Cork, Dusan Tadic and Victor Wanyama put Southampton seven ahead, before Patrick van Aanholt deflected a Sadio Mane shot into the Sunderland net to finish off the scoring 86 minutes in.
Saints boss Ronald Koeman had picked up the Manager of the Month award before kick-off, and the result left Southampton in third, though they would finish the season seventh after a poor late run.
Manchester City 8-0 Watford (2019)
Eleven years after shipping eight goals away to Middlesbrough, Manchester City came out on the right end of a trouncing.
Their opening salvo was astonishing at the Etihad Stadium: David Silva scored after 52 seconds, and within 18 minutes they were 5-0 up after goals from Sergio Aguero, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Nicolas Otamendi.
Mercifully for Watford there was a breather – but the Hornets crumbled again within three minutes of the second half and allowed Bernardo his hat-trick by the hour mark. Kevin De Bruyne put the cherry on top with five minutes remaining to cap a masterful individual display.
Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich (1995)
It’s largely forgotten now that Ipswich had beaten Manchester United 3-2 earlier in 1994/95 – one of only seven victories all season as they came bottom and were relegated. This result, the Premier League’s joint record defeat, was a little more befitting of a campaign in which they finished 21 points from safety.
Unlike a lot of the trouncings in this list, goals here were neatly spread throughout the game – consistent haplessness from the Tractor Boys, if you will.
Andy Cole helped himself to five, Mark Hughes plundered two, while Roy Keane and Paul Ince both added solitary strikes in what was United's biggest victory for 103 years. Blackburn claimed the title that season, though, with Fergie’s men finishing second.
Southampton 0-9 Leicester (2019)
A year on from the death of their beloved chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha after a horrific helicopter crash outside the King Power Stadium, Leicester players did justice to the man behind their Premier League title with this devastating display on the south coast.
Southampton were onto a hiding in the 10th minute when Ben Chilwell slotted Leicester ahead, and in the same passage saw Ryan Bertrand sent off via a VAR-assisted decision. It was 3-0 inside 19 minutes courtesy of efforts from Youri Tielemans and Ayoze Perez, who ended the game with a hat-trick. James Maddison netted a wonderful eighth with a free-kick, sandwiching hat-trick goals from Jamie Vardy – the last, a stoppage-time penalty which befitted this all-time biggest Premier League away win.
Manchester United 9-0 Southampton (2021)
Featuring nine goals, eight scorers and two red cards, as Premier League poundings go, this might just have been the craziest of the lot.
Things began brightly, for neutrals at least, with Alexandre Jankewitz dismissed for the Saints less than two minutes into his debut.
It took a further 16 minutes for United to nab their first, but the floodgates opened after that: it was 4-0 by half-time, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Marcus Rashford, Edinson Cavani and a Jan Bednarek own goal all contributing to an embarrassing scoreline.
With three minutes to go, however, this game wasn't set to make our list; Southampton were settling in for a straightforward 6-0 trouncing.
Then up popped Bednarek again. A VAR-assisted red card for the Pole meant Bruno Fernandes made it seven from the penalty spot, Anthony Martial slotted an eighth in the last minute of normal time, and Daniel James finished off the evisceration late into injury time.
United equalled the record they'd first set 16 years previously and, somehow, Ralph Hasenhuttl's team ended up on the wrong side of this scoreline for the second time in two seasons.
Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth (2022)
Newly-promoted Bournemouth had lost 4-0 to Manchester City and 3-0 to Arsenal in their previous two outings – and they won't have expected to take anything from Anfield, but Liverpool turned the drubbing dial up to 11 (ok, nine).
Following draws with Fulham and Crystal Palace, and a 2-1 loss away to arch-rivals Manchester United five days prior, Jurgen Klopp demanded a big reaction from his Reds as they chased their first win of the season.
And boy, did they react. Less than three minutes had passed when Luis Diaz met Roberto Firmino's cross to head in the opener – before Harvey Elliott notched his first Premier League goal with a fine strike three minutes later, also set up by Firmino.
Firmino completed a hat-trick of assists just before the half-hour mark, providing the pass for Trent Alexander-Arnold to unleash an absolute thunderbolt past Cherries goalkeeper Mark Travers.
Liverpool's beaming Brazilian then got among the goals himself to make it 4-0, before Virgil van Dijk's header from an Andy Robertson corner ensured the hosts went in 5-0 up at half-time.
An extraordinary afternoon on Merseyside continued after the break, with Chris Mepham putting the ball into his own net within 60 seconds of the restart.
The Reds were 6-0 and showing no signs of letting up: Firmino made it 7-0 with his second of the afternoon; Fabio Carvalho added a fine eighth to open his Liverpool account; and Diaz, having started the demolition in the same fashion 82 minutes earlier, headed home to bring up 9-0 on the Anfield scoreboard.
It could have been 10, too, as James Milner's strike threatened to catch out Travers at his near post.
Welcome back to the top flight, Bournemouth.
