The English Premier League celebrated it's 25th year anniversary earlier this week (15th Aug) and to mark the occasion the BBC carried out a poll to find which of the 2,500+ goals scored during this period was the best.
More than half a million people took part and the results were extremely satisfying for Arsenal fans as three out of the top five goals were scored by us. So, short of a massive vote rigging scandal, we can statistically confirm that Arsenal score the most eye pleasing goals.
Results:
5th - Henry v Tottenham (2002) 5% - Solo goal from deep in his own half brushing off some hapless Spurs defenders before sliding ball past the keeper.
4th - Wilshere v Norwich (2013) 13% - Intricate team goal once again starting deep in his own half culminating in wizardry flicks and back heels leaving bamboozled defenders playing where's the ball competition and losing.
3rd - Rooney v Man City (2011) 22% - Acrobatic bicycle / overhead kick that arrowed into the top corner.
Runner Up - Yeboah v Wimbledon (1995) 29% - Dropping ball, chested, kneed, shimmed followed by thunderbolt strike from 30+ yards out which would have taken out anything that got in its way. I personally preferred a similar goal he scored against Liverpool that threatened to uproot the cross bar.
Winner - Bergkamp v Newcastle (2002) 31% - You may have heard the phrase 'being turned inside out'. This goal is the definition of that phrase scored by a player who like all great players already knows what he's going to do three / five moves in advance.
Initially there was debate about whether or not he meant the flick preceding the goal, but if you closely watch his movement prior to and after receiving the ball there can be no doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing. This was no fluke my friend, just a genius at his best.
Do you agree with the 500,000+ people who took part in the above poll? My favourite of all time was unfortunately pre premier league and is therefore now lost in the mist of time. It was Thomas v Liverpool (1989) an amazing once in a life time mission impossible goal.
If you have not seen the above goals before or would just like to relieve them, just enter the details into your favourite search engine or video sharing platform.