Highest scoring defenders in the Premier League: The current and all-time leaders

Here is our comprehensive guide to the highest scoring defenders in the Premier League. In this article, we’ll look at which defender is leading the 2024/25 scoring charts going into October, who the PL’s all-time top defensive hitmen are, and who the top-scoring defenders were in PL seasons gone by.

Highest scoring defenders in the Premier League for 2024/25

Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal) and James Justin (Leicester) are joint-leaders in the PL’s defender-only scoring charts with two goals each. Gabriel is no stranger to this distinction, having been the highest-scoring PL defender for a significant stretch of 2023/24, though he failed to add to the four-goal tally he had in February, ultimately being pipped by Spurs defender Cristian Romero (five goals).

Arsenal’s set-piece menace is already well-known for his aerial prowess, and he used it to great effect in the North London derby of September 2024, heading the matchwinner at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And he repeated the feat a week later at Manchester City, scoring another lead-giving goal with his head – though this time it would be enough only for an admirable draw in the champions’ backyard.

But just six weeks later, James Justin committed the ultimate troll act on Gabriel – at least at a personal level – scoring twice in Leicester’s 4-2 loss at Arsenal to match his tally in just one afternoon. His first effort was a header to halve a 2-0 deficit, before he struck right-footed to level at 2-2. They were only his third and fourth-ever PL goals, with both of the previous two coming during the 2020/21 campaign in matches played behind closed doors.

Obviously, there is a long way to go and absolutely nothing is settled yet, with a raft of candidates who could join Gabriel and Justin before the next international break. As for those defenders starting October 2024 on just a solitary PL goal, one notable name includes Man City’s defensive colossus Josko Gvardiol, who had the chance to complete a hat-trick at Fulham (via the spot) back in May, but passed up the opportunity to a more experienced penalty taker.

Top scoring Premier League defenders of all-time: The top 5

John Terry is the leader of the all-time stakes, having netted 41 times in the PL. Of those strikes, more than a third (16) proved to be match-winning ones, of which 11 came via his head.

Unsurprisingly, a majority (25) of Terry’s PL goals were from headers. As can be seen from the table below, he is also the only PL defender to date to breach the 40-goal mark:

Following on from Terry are two of Everton’s best dead ball specialists across the past three decades – David Unsworth and Leighton Baines – both of whom were lethal from the spot in their respective primes. Combined, they netted 51 out of a possible 58 times when presented with a 12-yard duel.

Much like these dead-ball legends, Baines in particular was also a wizard from free kicks, with a memorable double strike against West Ham in September 2013 being one of his more audacious showings in that regard:

Completing the all-time top five are Terry’s former Chelsea and England teammate Gary Cahill and Irish left-back Ian Harte, who was part of the Leeds team that made it to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2001.

Now for a real trip down memory lane, as we look at which defenders did the business at both ends of the pitch in every season of the PL’s existence…

The top-scoring defenders in every Premier League season

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1. Matt Elliott, David Unsworth and Ian Harte also finished on six goals, but took more appearances than Taggart's 31 to reach that tally.
2. William Gallas, Lee McCulloch and Liam Ridgewell also finished on five goals, but took more appearances than Jarosik's 24 to reach that tally.
3. John Terry and Thomas Vermaelen also finished on six goals, but took more appearances than Young's 25 to reach that tally.
4. Leighton Baines also finished on five goals, but took more appearances to reach that tally.
5. Gareth McAuley and Gary Cahill also finished on six goals, but took more appearances than Alonso's 31 to reach that tally.
6. Five others finished on three goals but took more appearances – Rasmus Kristensen, Ben Mee, Virgil van Dijk, Gabriel and Ethan Pinnock.

Some interesting facts can be seen in the table:

• John-Arne Riise is the only player to be the outright top-scoring defender three times or more.
• Largely because of this, Liverpool have the highest number of outright entries in the list (six).
• Ashley Young is the only player to appear in the list on three successive occasions.
• Three of the players in the list (Bodin, Jarosik and Alexander) played for relegated teams.
• Only on two occasions has an outright highest-scoring defender also won the PL.

Will a Spurs player claim this particular honour for the third season running? Only time will tell…