West Ham United’s chaotic match with Arsenal featured seven goals in the first half of a game for only the fourth time in Premier League history.
Not since 2012, when Manchester United played Reading, has a match delivered so many goals before half-time.
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This is the timeline of an incredible first half…
10min GOAL! Gabriel Magalhaes heads Arsenal into the lead with his third goal in the Premier League this season. The centre-back has 17 goals to his name, the most of any defender since his Arsenal debut in September 2020.
17min NO GOAL! Crysencio Summerville goes a little bit too early and his goal is disallowed for offside as West Ham respond well.
27min GOAL! Leandro Trossard taps into the net from close range as an outstanding Arsenal move unlocks the West Ham defence to make it 2-0.
34min GOAL! After Lucas Paqueta hangs out a trailing leg to take down Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard makes no mistake from the penalty spot to make it 3-0.
36min GOAL! Trossard finds Kai Havertz who tucks the ball beyond Lukasz Fabianski to make it 4-0 prompting some West Ham fans to leave their seats, probably remembering this fixture last season when Arsenal were 4-0 up at half-time and went on to win 6-0.
38min GOAL! But no, West Ham fight back! A third goal in four minutes is scored as Aaron Wan-Bissaka reduces the deficit. The right-back converts Carlos Soler's fine through-ball to make it two goals in his last two Premier League appearances, as many times as he’d scored in first 182 games.
40min GOAL! The best of the lot? Emerson’s fine free-kick finds the top corner and West Ham have another one back at 4-2.
45+4min GOAL! But the fightback does not last long as Arsenal are awarded another penalty after Fabianski punches Gabriel when going for the ball. Saka gets in on the act despite the goalkeeper guessing the right way to make it 5-2. It was the first time ever the Gunners have scored two first-half penalties. West Ham concede five goals in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time while Arsenal scored five or more goals in an away game for the fifth time in 2024 in all competitions.
However, as with the three other matches that featured seven first-half goals, this flurry was not repeated after the break. In two of them, like at West Ham, there were no more goals, while the other match featured only one additional strike.
The other first halves with seven goals
Blackburn Rovers 3-4 Leeds United
In September 1997 fans saw a goal flurry with Rod Wallace’s quick-fire double setting the tone early on. There were no more goals after half-time, with the second half not living up to the first.
Bradford City 4-4 Derby County
In April 2000, a first-half Dean Windass hat-trick turned things around after the Bantams went 2-0 down inside six minutes. They couldn’t hold on and a Craig Burley penalty saw Derby return to Pride Park with a point.
Reading 3-4 Man Utd
The last time seven goals were shared in a first half, Reading and Man United did all the scoring in the first 34 minutes. Wayne Rooney’s two goals back in December 2012 kept United on top of the Premier League.
