5-2 (31 times)
There have been 31 5-2 victories in Premier League history, the most memorable of which was Arsenal’s defeat of Tottenham in 2012. Spurs relinquished a 2-0 lead in that game at the Emirates Stadium – the start of their slide out of Champions League qualification – having failed to learn their lesson from three years earlier, when they did the exact same thing in a 5-2 loss to Manchester United.
6-1 (30 times)
Manchester City’s 6-1 triumph over rivals Manchester United in 2011 felt like a coming-of-age performance, even if five of Roberto Mancini’s men’s goals came when their opponents were down to 10 men.
Other examples include Liverpool 6-1 Watford and Leicester 1-6 Tottenham from last season, Chelsea 6-1 Derby in 2007/08 and Arsenal 6-1 Southampton in 2002/03.
6-0 (28 times)
Twenty-seven teams have been on the receiving end of a 6-0 walloping in the Premier League. West Ham, Tottenham and Portsmouth were victims of such a scoreline against Everton, Sheffield United and Manchester City respectively, but the highest-profile occurrence was Chelsea’s thrashing of Arsenal in Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th game in charge of the north Londoners.
5-3 (16 times)
Leicester’s first home win following their promotion back to the Premier League in 2014 came against Manchester United, who were beaten 5-3 at the King Power Stadium.
A few months later, Tottenham’s victory over Chelsea by the same scoreline prompted Jose Mourinho to close ranks for the remainder of the season as the Blues chased – and ultimately won – the title.
6-2 (16 times)
Dwight Yorke scored four top-flight hat-tricks in England, one of which came in Manchester United’s 6-2 win against Leicester in January 1999. The very first Premier League season featured two 6-2s, Oldham easing past Wimbledon and Liverpool dispatching Tottenham.
4-4 (14 times)
There was a time towards the end of the 2010s when the Premier League seemed to dish up a 4-4 draw every other week. Andrey Arshavin was responsible for all of Arsenal’s net-ripplers when they and Liverpool played out an eight-goal thriller at Anfield, while a brace from Joe Cole ensured Chelsea left White Hart Lane with a point after a similarly topsy-turvy encounter in 2008.
7-1 (14 times)
A Harry Kane hat-trick helped Tottenham to a 7-1 win at Hull on the final day of last season, which was the 14th example of such a result in the Premier League. Dimitar Berbatov outshone Kane when Manchester United smashed Blackburn 7-1 in 2010, the Bulgarian notching five of the Red Devils’ goals at Old Trafford.
7-0 (6 times)
Thierry Henry equalled Cliff Bastin’s league goals record for Arsenal when he hit three in a 7-0 defeat of Middlesbrough in 2006.
Eleven years earlier, Alan Shearer helped himself to a hat-trick as Blackburn gave Nottingham Forest a hiding, while Andrew Cole and Salomon Kalou also grabbed trebles in 7-0 wins for Manchester United (against Barnsley in 1997) and Chelsea (against Stoke in 2010) respectively.
5-4 (5 times)
One of the most exciting scorelines in football, there have been just five 5-4 victories since the Premier League began in 1992. The most recent instance came last year, when Crystal Palace contrived to throw away a 4-3 lead against Swansea in second-half stoppage time.
Tottenham weren't guilty of the same carelessness when they lost 5-4 to Arsenal in 2004, but they couldn’t quite peg their north London neighbours back after the Gunners went 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 up.
6-3 (5 times)
Arsenal topped the Premier League before they were beaten 6-3 by Manchester City in December 2013, a loss which kick-started Arsene Wenger’s side's descent down the table.
Ronald Koeman was delighted when his Everton team thrashed Bournemouth 6-3 last season, but Jose Mourinho – ruing a lack of “balance” – was rather less content with his Chelsea side’s defeat of the Toffees by the same scoreline in 2014.
8-0 (4 times)
It was rather fitting that Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea, the highest-scoring team in Premier League history, sealed the title with an 8-0 battering of Wigan in May 2010.
The Blues repeated the feat against Aston Villa two years later, while Newcastle 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday in 1999 and Southampton 8-0 Sunderland in 2014 also offered a major contrast of emotions.
7-2 (3 times)
Braces from Kevin Gallacher and Chris Sutton helped Blackburn ease past Sheffield Wednesday in 1997, as the Owls were vanquished 7-2 after going 5-1 down as early as the 24th minute.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea also racked up seven goals when they whacked Sunderland in 2010, with the only other occurrence being Tottenham 7-2 Southampton in the 1999/00 campaign.
8-1 (2 times)
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s reign as Manchester City manager ended with a whimper rather than a bang, as Middlesbrough ran out 8-1 winners at the Riverside Stadium on the final day of the 2007/08 season.
The only previous example was Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United in February 1999, which means we’re probably now due another one.
5-5 (1 time)
Alex Ferguson’s 26-year tenure as Manchester United manager ended with one of the most entertaining games of his career, a barmy 5-5 draw at West Brom. Future United striker Romelu Lukaku helped himself to a hat-trick as the Red Devils – perhaps no longer so fearful of the hairdryer treatment – conceded three goals in the final five minutes.
6-4 (1 time)
When Tottenham and Reading players headed down the White Hart Lane tunnel at half-time with the score locked at 1-1, they certainly wouldn’t have predicted the drama that lay ahead. Ivar Ingimarsson edged the visitors in front shortly after the restart before all hell broke loose, the two teams sharing seven more goals in the final 37 minutes.
7-3 (1 time)
As debate raged about whether Theo Walcott was best deployed as a central striker or out wide, the Arsenal man did his case to play up top no harm by scoring a hat-trick in his team’s 7-3 win against Newcastle in 2012. The Magpies were level at 3-3 with 17 minutes remaining, but a late flurry of goals secured maximum points for Arsene Wenger’s side.
7-4 (1 time)
The highest-scoring game in Premier League history took place at Fratton Park in September 2007, when Portsmouth beat Reading 7-4. Eight goals were scored in the second half alone – that’s one every 5.6 minutes – with Royals boss Steve Coppell neatly summing it up afterwards by saying: “It’s hard to analyse a match like this, and if you try you’ll be there a very long time.”
8-2 (1 time)
One of the most famous results of the Premier League era, Arsenal are yet to live down their 8-2 defeat by Manchester United six years on. The Gunners were utterly humiliated at Old Trafford, although a back four of Carl Jenkinson, Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny and Armand Traore suggests they were always going to be up against it.
9-1 (1 time)
In the opening weeks of the 2009/10 season, Wigan lost 4-0 to Arsenal, 5-0 to Manchester United and 4-0 to Portsmouth. But unfortunately for manager Roberto Martinez, the worst was yet to come.
Wigan at least managed to score when they faced Tottenham in November, but that plus point was rather outweighed by the nine goals they conceded. Ludicrously, this game was only 1-0 to Spurs at half-time, but Jermain Defoe alone hit five in the second half. The relentlessly upbeat Martinez took the positives, telling reporters: “I’m not bothered about the final scoreline… we’ll get stronger from this.”
9-0 (1 time)
The biggest win in Premier League history took place, unsurprisingly, at Old Trafford. Ipswich, eight points adrift of safety at the wrong end of the table, arrived at the home of Manchester United more in hope than expectation, but even the most pessimistic of Town supporters couldn’t have envisaged an evisceration this bad.
Roy Keane gave United the lead in the 16th minute, before Andrew Cole helped himself to a hat-trick. The striker added two more goals to his tally before the final whistle, with Mark Hughes (two) and Paul Ince also chipping in to compound Ipswich's misery.
