What's the Quickest Goal Ever Scored in the Premier League?

**TL;DR: **The quickest goal in Premier League history was scored by Shane Long for Southampton against Watford on 23 April 2019. The official time was 7.69 seconds from kick-off. It is the only Premier League goal scored in under 8 seconds, and it remains the record more than 6 years on.

Fast goals are one of football's purest dramas. The match has barely started, the away fans are still settling in, and the scoreboard already says 1-0. Some of those goals just feel inevitable in retrospect. Others come from absolutely nothing.

Shane Long's 7.69 seconds

Southampton kicked off at Vicarage Road on a quiet Tuesday night. The ball moved forwards, a Watford defender attempted a header back to his keeper, Shane Long got there first and lifted it past Ben Foster. From whistle to ball-in-net was 7.69 seconds, beating the previous record by some margin.

It was a strange goal in another way. Southampton lost the match 2-1. The fastest goal in Premier League history did not even win three points for the team that scored it.

The runners-up

Below Long's record there is a small cluster of goals timed in the 9 to 12 second range. The notable ones include:

• Ledley King for Tottenham vs Bradford in December 2000, timed at around 9.7 seconds
• Alan Shearer for Newcastle vs Manchester City in January 2003, timed at around 10.4 seconds
• Christian Eriksen for Tottenham vs Manchester United in January 2018, timed at around 10.5 seconds
• Asmir Begovic's keeper-to-keeper goal for Stoke vs Southampton in November 2013, timed at around 13 seconds

Begovic's effort is its own thing. A long clearance from his own box that bounced over Artur Boruc. It is the only goalkeeper goal in Premier League history.

Why fast goals matter for predictors

If you play prediction games, an early goal is one of the most disruptive events in the entire sport. Your 1-0 home win prediction looks fine if the home side scores in the 67th minute. It looks much shakier if the away side scores after 30 seconds, even if the rest of the match plays out broadly as expected.

Goals in the first 5 minutes massively increase the expected goals for the match. If you want to factor that into your forecasts, our piece on walks through the basics. The short version: an early goal pulls the losing side forward, opens up space, and pushes total goals up.