Top 10 fastest players to reach 50 Premier League goals

Some of the finest finishers in the Premier League

Scoring goals is the hardest thing in football - at the end of the day, they win games. In the Premier League, finding the back of the net is particularly difficult given strikers are often facing the best defenders in the world. The Premier League is widely recognised as one of the most competitive football leagues in the world. Over the years, it has been graced by some truly world-class players, who have dazzled fans with their footballing IQ and scoring capabilities.

Here are the ten quickest players to reach the 50 goals mark in the Premier League:

10. Kevin Phillips – 83 matches

An enjoyer of one of the finest debut seasons in Premier League history, Kevin Phillips is a unique name on this list surrounded by all-time greats – but make no mistake about it, he knew where the back of the net was. He never managed to hit a century of goals, finishing on 92, but will forever be remembered for notching 50 in quick fashion. Phillips took things up a level in their first season back up, collecting the European Golden Boot by scoring 30 goals in 36 games.

Things slowed down considerably from that magical season, he scored 31 goals in the following three years combined, while his 50th goal eventually arrived in his 83rd appearance.

9. Thierry Henry – 83 matches

Tied with Phillips, Thierry Henry also reached 50 goals in his first 83 Premier League games. Rather fittingly, the Frenchman grabbed his half-century in a 2-0 victory over Arsenal's north London rivals Tottenham in 2001—the stuff of dreams. Despite being tied with Phillips, the mercurial Frenchman continued to set the Premier League alight, scoring 175 goals in 258 outings.

8. Sergio Aguero – 81 matches

It wouldn’t be a Premier League goalscorers list without Aguero featuring somewhere, Sergio Aguero managed to reach 50 goals against Spurs, though the Argentine managed to do so in a 5-1 demolition job over the north London giants during the 2011-12 season. On home soil, too, it was a moment that the Etihad Stadium icon will never forget.

7. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 79 matches

Impressively, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was able to better Henry's record, netting his 50th during his 79th league appearance for the Gunners - scoring a brace in a 4-0 win over Norwich in 2020, it’s all too easy to forget that Aubameyang was a force to be reckoned with in his first few years in North London. It took Aubameyang just 79 games to score his 50th league goal for the Gunners.

6. Mohamed Salah – 72 matches

Salah is predominantly known for his speed, movement, clinical finishing, agility, dribbling skills, first touch, and ball control, as well as his ability to use his pace and flair on the ball to beat opponents and create scoring opportunities for himself or his teammates. Mohamed Salah equalled Torres’s 72-game record with a brace in Liverpool’s stunning 4-3 comeback win over Crystal Palace at Anfield in January 2019.

5. Fernando Torres – 72 matches

From one Liverpool icon to another, Fernando Torres is tied with Salah in the joint fourth spot. The Spaniard also hit 50 in 72 games, doing so in dramatic fashion at Villa Park. El Nino arrived from Atletico Madrid with plenty of hype, and he somehow lived up to it in those scintillating early years at Anfield. He scored his 50th Premier League goal for the Reds in his 72nd appearance, a late match-winner in a 1-0 victory away to Aston Villa in December 2009.

4. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 68 matches

Surprisingly enough, Van Nistelrooy’s time at Old Trafford wasn’t a period of great success. The Dutchman only won the Premier League title once in five years, while the club won four in five before and after his time there. The Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy scored his opening 50 Premier League goals inside 68 appearances.

3. Alan Shearer – 66 matches

The Premier League's record goalscorer is also the third quickest to hit 50. The Newcastle United legend actually got his half-century while at Blackburn Rovers, scoring a double against Everton in 1994. He set the tone for his legendary Premier League career with a brilliant brace on his debut for Blackburn and never looked back, needing just 66 games to score 50 goals. Shearer would finish his Premier League career with 260 goals, a record that looks insurmountable at present.

2. Andy Cole – 65 matches

All the way back in 1995, Andy Cole and his Manchester United teammates played in a match to remember – and it wasn’t only the Englishman who was smashing records that day. Sir Alex Ferguson’s imperious outfit put Ipswich Town to the sword in a 9-0 thrashing, and they duly became the first team to score nine goals in a Premier League fixture. It was just Cole's 65th match, making him the second fastest to hit a half-century. He also became the first player to score five in a single Premier League game during the demolition of Ipswich.

1. Erling Haaland - 48 matches

The Manchester City forward has smashed the record for the most goals scored in a single Premier League season, as well as being the fastest player to reach ten goals and three hat-tricks in the competition. There is another record the unstoppable Norwegian has now broken - the fastest player to 50 Premier League goals. Playing for a dominant City side, Haaland needed 17 games fewer than any other player in the history of the competition to reach his Premier League half-century.