The 5 Fastest Premier League Goals in History
Shane Long broke Premier League history on Tuesday, scoring after less than eight seconds against Watford, becoming the fastest ever scorer in the Premier League, during Southampton's 1-1 draw with the Hornets.
Apart from Long, there have been plenty of others who have scored in an extraordinarily short time, with some being the fastest goals in history, up until the Southampton and Republic of Ireland forward broke the record on Tuesday.
5. Mark Viduka (11.90 seconds vs Charlton on March 2001)
Leeds United were a force to be reckoned with during the early 2000s, and they just narrowly failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League during the 2000/01 season.
One of their all-time great forwards, Mark Viduka, was at the top of his game during his first season with Leeds, scoring 17 goals in 34 Premier League appearances, one of which being a famous goal he scored against Charlton Athletic.
Leeds kicked off against Charlton, and immediately pumped a long ball towards the opposition's penalty area, with Alan Smith meeting the ball with a header, as he nodded it to Viduka, who with just two touches, directed the ball into the net for the opener.
Leeds went on to win the game at The Valley 2-1, with Alan Smith grabbing a goal just 44 seconds into the second half.
4. Christian Eriksen (10.54 seconds vs Manchester United on January 2018)
Christian Eriksen is one of the most satisfying Premier League players to watch when it comes to coolness on the ball and vision, so it might be surprising to find that the Danish midfielder recorded one of the fastest Premier League goals in history against Manchester United last season.
Once again, it was because of a long-ball right from kick-off, which Harry Kane met and found Dele Alli in the box, who quickly slotted the ball right in Eriksen's path, who with all of the composure possible, tucked the ball away to the joy of the Tottenham fans.
To rub even more salt into the wounds of the United fans on that day, Phil Jones went on to score an own-goal, with the match ending in a 2-0 win for Spurs.
3. Alan Shearer (10.52 seconds vs Manchester City on January 2003)
The Manchester clubs have become victims of very early goals, and in 2003, it was the notorious Alan Shearer who quickly bagged a goal in just 10.52 seconds in Newcastle United's 2-0 win against City.
This time however, the opposition had the kick-off. As City kicked-off, they passed the ball back to their goalkeeper, Carlo Nash, who slipped as he tried to clear the ball away. That slip gave the Newcastle captain enough time to press the goalkeeper, as Shearer somehow managed to block the clearance and slot the ball into the empty net for a quick-fire opener.
To make matters worse for Nash, this was one of his chances to re-establish himself as the number one goalkeeper for City after they had signed Peter Schmeichel, yet his part in their 2-0 against Newcastle didn't do him any favours, and he was sold to Middlesbrough at the end of the season.
2. Ledley King (9.82 seconds vs Bradford City on December 2000)
King's goal was the first goal in Premier League history to be scored in less than ten seconds, and it held the record for the Premier League's fastest ever goal for 19 years, up until Shane Long broke the record on Tuesday.
Tottenham were playing Bradford City at the Valley Parade stadium, and after Spurs kicked-off, King went forward and had a pretty weak shot towards goal. However, a massive deflection completely left the goalkeeper stranded with the ball going right into the bottom corner.
It is surprising that a record which stood for 19 years, was done by a defender.
1. Shane Long (7.69 seconds vs Watford on April 2019)
To make matters even better for Shane Long, who has been on pretty good goalscoring form considering the abysmal goalscoring record he has for a striker, he not only managed to beat King's record, but he smashed it, with it being more than two seconds less than the former Tottenham defender's record.
Watford kicked-off and passed the ball immediately back to Craig Cathcart, who tried to immediately clear the ball after seeing that he was under pressure from Long, yet the Irishman managed to block the clearance and chipped the ball over Ben Foster, creating Premier League history in the process.
With there being such a huge difference between the second and first place in this list, this record will surely remain for several years, or will it?
