When Arsenal visited near neighbours West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday evening, few could have predicted the record-equalling first-half goalfest. In an astonishing opening 45 minutes, the teams managed a whopping seven goals between them, with the Gunners going into the break 5-2 to the good.
As it turned out, neither side would score again in the second period, but the frenetic opening period equalled the record for the most goals in the first half of a Premier League match. In this article, we’ll recap what happened when Mikel Arteta’s men demolished the Hammers. We’ll then take a look back at the three previous contests that also saw seven goals in the first half.
West Ham 2-5 Arsenal – 30th November 2024
(Final score: 2-5)
| West Ham | Score | Arsenal |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1 | Gabriel 10’ | |
| 0 – 2 | Trossard 27’ | |
| 0 – 3 | Ødegaard (pen) 34′ | |
| 0 – 4 | Havertz 36′ | |
| Wan-Bissaka 38′ | 1 – 4 | |
| Emerson 40′ | 2 – 4 | |
| 2 – 5 | Saka (pen) 45+5′ |
Julen Lopetegui’s struggling Hammers would not have relished the visit of Arsenal given that Arteta’s men had just won 5-1 away at Portuguese side Sporting. And the Gunners won 3-0 at home against Nottingham Forest before that, putting a bit of a sticky spell behind them. The fears of West Ham fans were realised after just 10 minutes when Gabriel flicked in the visitors’ opener from Bukayo Saka’s corner. Things got worse for the home side when Leandro Trossard scored in the 27th minute. And then the game went into overdrive as goals flew in left, right and centre.
Martin Odegaard was the next man on the scoresheet after he converted the penalty that resulted from a trip on Saka in the 34th minute. Two minutes later, Kai Havertz rounded former Arsenal keeper Lukasz Fabianski to make it 4-0. With the game seemingly over as a contest, West Ham finally woke up and started to string a couple of passes together. They were rewarded in the 38th minute when Aaron Wan-Bissaka got one back for the Hammers. And when Emerson scored a freekick two minutes after that, there were sure to be some West Ham fans dreaming of an unlikely comeback.
Unfortunately for the Hammers, there was no hope of the home side getting back into the game after Saka scored a penalty of his own in first-half injury time to make it 5-2. As with two of the other three games with seven first-half goals, neither side managed to find the back of the net in the second half. Both teams seemingly decided the game was done and dusted and resolved to conserve their energy for the matches to come.
Reading 3-4 Manchester United – 1st December 2012
(Final score: 3-4)
| Reading | Score | Manchester United |
|---|---|---|
| Robson-Kanu 8′ | 1 – 0 | |
| 1 – 1 | Anderson 13′ | |
| 1 – 2 | Rooney (pen) 16′ | |
| Le Fondre 19′ | 2 – 2 | |
| Morrison 23′ | 3 – 2 | |
| 3 – 3 | Rooney 30′ | |
| 3 – 4 | Van Persie 34′ |
The 2012/13 season was Sir Alex Ferguson’s final campaign in charge of Manchester United, and there were several strange results, not least the final day’s 5-5 draw with West Bromwich Albion. And this nip-and-tuck away win over a struggling Reading side was certainly closer and more dramatic than Red Devils fans would have liked.
It was Reading – who were second-from-bottom in the table at the time – who opened the scoring, Hal Robson-Kanu netting after eight minutes. The goal kicked the visitors into gear and Anderson levelled after 13 minutes before Wayne Rooney slotted in from the penalty spot three minutes later. The Royals were far from done, however, and Adam Le Fondre equalised three minutes after that, before Sean Morrison put the home side ahead for the second time in the 23rd minute.
Ferguson’s Man United sides were renowned for their ability to recover from tricky situations, and they wasted little time getting back on an equal footing. Rooney was the man to deliver once again as he struck to make it 3-3 on the half-hour mark. Finally, Robin van Persie exhibited his trademark composure to finish neatly, making it 4-3 to the visitors in the 34th minute. And that’s how the game stayed as once again the sides that were so free-scoring in the first half failed to add to their tallies in the second.
Interestingly, like West Ham above, Reading also lost 5-2 at home to Arsenal later in the same month – although only three goals were scored in the first half that day!
Bradford City 4-3 Derby County – 21st April 2000
(Final score: 4-4)
| Bradford | Score | Derby County |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1 | Delap 1’ | |
| 0 – 2 | Strupar 6’ | |
| Windass 11’ | 1 – 2 | |
| Windass 18’ | 2 – 2 | |
| Beagrie (pen) 27’ | 3 – 2 | |
| 3 – 3 | Burley (pen) 36’ | |
| Windass 44’ | 4 -3 |
Bradford City and Derby County were embroiled in the relegation dogfight in April 2000 when the sides played out this remarkable match. Paul Jewell’s Bradford were on an awful run having lost their previous six Premier League games. So when the visitors’ Rory Delap scored in the first minute, the Bantams’ fans must have had their heads in their hands. Things got worse before they got better too as Branko Strupar doubled the Rams’ lead five minutes later.
The home side dug deep, however, and Dean Windass scored twice, in the 11th and 18th minutes, to level things up. Former Everton and Manchester City man Peter Beagrie then put the home team ahead after 27 minutes – but the lead was short-lived. Craig Burley scored for the visitors from the penalty spot to make it 3-3 after 36 minutes. By now the home fans were probably tearing their hair out, but Windass popped up to send them into raptures as he completed his first-half hat-trick to make it 4-3 at the break.
Unlike the other games featured here, there was another goal in the second half, a second penalty was scored by Derby’s Burley in the 52nd minute to make it 4-4. The match proved something of a launchpad for Bradford’s survival push as the Bantams won three of their final four games (including a final-day 1-0 triumph over Liverpool). As it turned out, both Bradford and Derby avoided relegation, with the former finishing in 17th position on 36 points (three above the relegation zone) and the latter just a place and two points above them.
Blackburn Rovers 3-4 Leeds United – 14 September 1997
(Final score: 3-4)
| Blackburn Rovers | Score | Leeds United |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1 | Wallace 3’ | |
| 0 – 2 | Molenaar 6’ | |
| Gallacher 8’ | 1 – 2 | |
| Sutton (pen) 16’ | 2 – 2 | |
| 2 – 3 | Wallace 17’ | |
| 2 – 4 | Hopkin 23’ | |
| Dahlin 33’ | 3 – 4 |
It’s back to the 1990s for the first time a Premier League match featured seven goals in the first half as Leeds United visited Blackburn Rovers. Both sides had won the English top-flight title in the years before this: Leeds were the last team to win the old First Division title in 1991/92, and Blackburn won the Premier League crown in 1994/95. Former Arsenal boss George Graham was the Leeds manager at the time, while (then) future England boss Roy Hodgson was in charge at Blackburn.
The goals started flowing early at Ewood Park, with the visitors’ Rod Wallace kicking things off with his third-minute strike. His teammate Robert Molenaar made it 2-0 to the away side in the sixth minute before the home team’s Kevin Gallacher pulled one back two minutes later. Chris Sutton then scored from the spot to level things up, but barely a minute later, Wallace scored his second of the game to make it 3-2 to Leeds.
With fans unable to take their eyes off the action, Leeds pulled further ahead as David Hopkin finished after a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink assist to make it 4-2. Blackburn’s Swedish striker Martin Dahlin put his team back in contention once more just after the half-hour mark. But Hodgson’s men were unable to find a further breakthrough, and with no further goals in the second half, the game ended 4-3 to Leeds, who finished in fifth place in the table, one place and one point ahead of Blackburn.