Premier League top scorers of the 1990s
Top 20
The Premier League's first eight seasons, 1992/93 to 1999/00, counted on their own. The first three of them were played with twenty-two clubs rather than twenty, and the scoring list they produced looks nothing like the modern one.
Alan Shearer scored 176 of these, fifty-three more than anybody else managed across the same eight years. The rest of the table is a roll call of the era: the goalscorer at the unfashionable club, the striker who is remembered for one season, the forward everybody has forgotten was this prolific.
| # | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan ShearerBlackburn Rovers, Newcastle United1992/93–1999/00 | 176 |
| 2 | Andy ColeManchester United, Newcastle United1993/94–1999/00 | 123 |
| 3 | Ian WrightArsenal, West Ham United1992/93–1998/99 | 113 |
| 4 | Les FerdinandQueens Park Rangers, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur1992/93–1999/00 | 113 |
| 5 | Robbie FowlerLiverpool1993/94–1999/00 | 109 |
| 6 | Matt Le TissierSouthampton1992/93–1999/00 | 99 |
| 7 | Dwight YorkeAston Villa, Manchester United1992/93–1999/00 | 98 |
| 8 | Teddy SheringhamTottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest1992/93–1999/00 | 92 |
| 9 | Dion DublinCoventry City, Aston Villa, Manchester United1992/93–1999/00 | 86 |
| 10 | Chris SuttonBlackburn Rovers, Norwich City, Chelsea1992/93–1999/00 | 81 |
| 11 | Tony CotteeEverton, Leicester City, West Ham United1992/93–1999/00 | 78 |
| 12 | Éric CantonaManchester United, Leeds United1992/93–1996/97 | 70 |
| 13 | Chris ArmstrongTottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace1992/93–1999/00 | 69 |
| 14 | Mark HughesManchester United, Chelsea, Southampton + 1 more1992/93–1999/00 | 63 |
| 15 | Brian DeaneLeeds United, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough1992/93–1999/00 | 62 |
| 16 | Dean HoldsworthWimbledon, Bolton Wanderers1992/93–1997/98 | 61 |
| 17 | Peter BeardsleyNewcastle United, Everton, Bolton Wanderers1992/93–1997/98 | 59 |
| 18 | Stan CollymoreLiverpool, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa + 1 more1992/93–1999/00 | 59 |
| 19 | Dennis BergkampArsenal1995/96–1999/00 | 57 |
| 20 | Kevin GallacherBlackburn Rovers, Coventry City, Newcastle United1992/93–1999/00 | 54 |
Just outside. The next five are Ryan Giggs (54), Efan Ekoku (53), Gary Speed (52), Kevin Campbell (52) and Mark Bright (50).
What the table shows
What dates the list is the club columns. Three of the twenty scored all of their goals for one club, and the rest moved — but they moved between clubs that were, at the time, roughly interchangeable in status, which is a kind of mobility the league stopped offering some time around the turn of the century.
Matt Le Tissier's goals for Southampton are the entry that best captures the period: a forward of that quality staying at that club for that long is close to unthinkable now, and the fact that it barely raised an eyebrow then is the real difference between the eras.