The Premier League has witnessed some blockbuster opening-day fixtures, but which players have contributed the most goals in the season's first game?
FootballFanCast has looked at the nine players who have scored more times than anyone else in the Premier League's opening-day fixtures.
For this list, we have listed the players who have scored the most times on the first matchday, with the number of games scored in and opening-day appearances used as a tiebreaker.
Player
Team(s)
Goals
MD1 games scored in
MD1 apps
Mohamed Salah
Liverpool
9
7
8
Frank Lampard
Chelsea
8
8
17
Wayne Rooney
Man Utd, Everton
8
7
15
Jamie Vardy
Leicester
8
6
9
Alan Shearer
Blackburn, Newcastle
8
6
11
Teddy Sheringham
Nottm Forest, Spurs, Man Utd, Portsmouth, West Ham
7
7
12
Sergio Aguero
Man City
7
6
9
Louis Saha
Fulham, Man Utd, Everton
6
5
7
Didier Drogba
Chelsea
6
3
8
All stats correct as of 15th August 2024.
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ByMark MarstonDec 23, 2023 5 Alan Shearer 8 goals
Alan Shearer holds the all-time record for the most Premier League goals scored, which means he was bound to have scored some of his 260 goals on the opening day of the season.
With Harry Kane now at Bayern Munich, it could mean the Newcastle United man holds onto the record for even longer than he ever would have expected.
Shearer spent four years at Southampton and Blackburn Rovers, before moving to Newcastle in 1996 for a then-record fee of £15 million. He lifted the Premier League title with Blackburn in 1995, scoring 34 goals alongside fellow striker Chris Sutton, who added 15 of his own that season.
That was Shearer’s first of three consecutive Golden Boots that he won, scoring 34 goals the following season in what was a 42-match season, before bagging 31 the next, in the more recognisable 38-game format.
It was two seasons before his first Golden Boot-winning season that Shearer had arguably his best opening day success, as he scored two stunners from outside the box against Crystal Palace in 1992.
Shearer scored 206 goals at his boyhood club Newcastle across the decade he spent there and retired as their all-time leading scorer.
4 Jamie Vardy 8 goals
Jamie Vardy will arguably go down as one of the Premier League’s most clinical finishers, and he certainly made the most of his natural finishing abilities in the first game of numerous seasons.
Vardy is another member of the 100 club to appear on this list, having scored 136 goals in 307 appearances for Leicester City – before adding to his tally on the opening day once more this term.
He first scored on the opening day in the 2015/16 Premier League season, netting against Sunderland in a 4-2 win at the King Power Stadium.
That same campaign, Vardy set a new record by scoring in 11 consecutive matches – surpassing Ruud van Nistelrooy’s 2003 record of 10 straight games with a goal. Of course, Leicester also won the Premier League having been given odds of 5000/1 by bookmakers to lift the trophy at the start of the season.
Vardy’s brace wasn’t enough for Leicester in the first game of the 2017/18 season, as his side narrowly lost to Arsenal in a seven-goal thriller at the Emirates. The following year, it was Man United who faced the Englishman’s prowess on the opening day.
The striker went on to score consecutive opening-day goals against Midlands clubs West Brom in September 2020 and Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2021.
Vardy climbed past Alan Shearer after scoring the Foxes' equaliser against Spurs in the first game of the 2024/25 season. He is now level with the Newcastle legend on eight opening-day goals, but edges ahead by virtue of scoring in fewer MD1 appearances (9 to Shearer's 11).
Season
Team
Opposition
Goals
Result
2015/16
Leicester
Sunderland
1
W 4-2
2017/18
Leicester
Arsenal
2
L 3-4
2018/19
Leicester
Man Utd
1
L 1-2
2020/21
Leicester
West Brom
2
W 3-0
2021/22
Leicester
Wolves
1
W 1-0
2024/25
Leicester
Tottenham
1
D 1-1
3 Wayne Rooney 8 goals
A 16-year-old Wayne Rooney announced himself to the Premier League when he scored a long-range stunner for Everton against Arsenal at Goodison Park in 2002.
Two years later, Rooney signed for Man United on a six-year contract under Sir Alex Ferguson, and would go on to complete one of the best careers ever seen in Premier League history.
Rooney was on target against his former club in 2005 and made it back-to-back opening-day goals in Man United’s 5-1 thrashing over Fulham the following season. He then scored the only goal against Birmingham City in 2009 and continued this trend against Swansea City and Bournemouth in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
With 208 goals in 491 appearances, Rooney is the third-highest Premier League goalscorer of all time, behind Shearer and Harry Kane. He lifted the top-flight trophy five times and won the 2009/10 Player of the Season.
2 Frank Lampard 8 goals
Widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation, Frank Lampard had a natural eye for goal.
Many people forget, but Lampard had already played nearly four full seasons in the Premier League before his move from West Ham to Chelsea in 2001, opening his account on day one on two occasions.
But it was at Chelsea as a 22-year-old where Lampard embarked on his journey to become one of the greatest midfielders the Premier League has ever seen.
Lampard scored his first opening-day Premier League goal in blue during a 3-2 win at The Valley against Charlton Athletic in August 2002. He next scored on the first day of the season in a 3-0 win over Man City four years later, before adding to his impressive record against Portsmouth in 2008.
West Brom, Wigan Athletic and Hull City also fell victim to Lampard’s opening-day goalscoring prowess.
The iconic Chelsea No 8 would go on to score 177 goals in his 609 Premier League appearances, making him the highest-scoring midfielder in the division's history.
He has also scored on the highest number of opening matchdays with eight – one more than Rooney and Mohamed Salah. If you hadn't guessed by now, the Egyptian may have taken his record in less than half the amount of games, but it is still an exceptional return for a midfielder.
1 Mohamed Salah 9 goals
No one could ever have predicted the impact that Mohamed Salah would have at Liverpool upon his arrival from AS Roma for £34 million in June 2017.
The 25-year-old quickly established himself as one of the Premier League’s most prolific goalscorers after scoring on his league debut against Watford in a 3-3 draw on the opening day of the 2017/18 season.
Salah continued this streak the following season against West Ham in a 4-0 win at Anfield and proceeded to score a goal on the opening day of every Premier League season until he failed to net against Chelsea in 2023. This places him above Shearer here, who fired a blank on the opening day on five separate occasions.
The Egyptian's impressive run included a 4-1 home win over Norwich City in 2019, a hat-trick in front of an empty stadium against Leeds in 2020, as well as strikes against the Canaries once again in 2021 and away at Fulham in 2022.
He then broke the record outright when netting against newly promoted Ipswich Town on the opening day of the 2024/25 season, taking his tally to nine in just eight MD1 appearances.
Salah has won the Golden Boot three times at Liverpool and was instrumental in his club’s first league title in 30 years, among other major honours, including a Champions League in 2019.
Season
Team
Opposition
Goals
Result
2017/18
Liverpool
Watford
1
D 3-3
2018/19
Liverpool
West Ham
1
W 4-0
2019/20
Liverpool
Norwich
1
W 4-1
2020/21
Liverpool
Leeds
3
W 4-3
2021/22
Liverpool
Norwich
1
W 3-0
2022/23
Liverpool
Fulham
1
D 2-2
2023/24
Liverpool
Ipswich
1
W 2-0
