blogs

Should Everton find the net against Tottenham on Sunday, cheer a little louder than usual.
 
The goal – whoever grabs it and however it comes – will be Everton’s 1000th in the Premier League era, bringing up a significant landmark in the Club’s history.

Everyone loves a goal – Marouane Fellaini more than most at present – and a quick scan of recent results suggests the milestone is more than likely to be reached this weekend.
 
In fact, the Blues have only failed to score once this season and you have to go back to a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in March to find the last occasion on which David Moyes’ men didn’t net at Goodison.

But the stats don't end there. As you might expect, the prospect of a 1000th strike opens up a treasure trove of interesting goal-related trivia.
 
For example, while you would always expect the majority of a team’s goals to come at home, the gap between those scored at Goodison and those not isn’t perhaps as wide as you’d think.

A total of 585 have been planted between the posts of the Gwladys Street and Park ends since Barry Horne drove in from the edge of the box to earn Howard Kendall’s side a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday in our Premier League curtain raiser in August 1992.
 
The following week, Peter Beardsley got the first on the road, teeing up an eventual 3-0 victory at would-be champions Manchester United. And a further 413 have followed, the most recent being Fellaini’s kneed effort against Manchester City last weekend.

Curiously, it was the Belgian who notched Everton’s 800th and 900th goals, in home games against Wigan Athletic (April 2009) and West Ham (January 2011) respectively.
 
With five goals in his last five games and eight for the season, you wouldn’t bet against the midfielder completing an unlikely hat-trick (incidently Fellaini to score and Everton to win 1-0 is 28/1 with Paddy Power) – and there could be another odd occurrence of history repeating itself too.

When the unlikely figure of Lee Carsley racked up goal number 500 in a 2-1 home win over Blackburn in December 2002, the goalkeeper for Rovers was one Brad Friedel. Currently battling it out with French international glovesman Hugo Lloris to be Andre Villas-Boas’ chosen one between the sticks, the American may or may not be in situ to pluck another notable Everton goal from the net on Sunday.

For the record, Daniel Amokachi grabbed goal 100 against QPR in September 1994 and the other milestone scorers along the way to 999 can be seen in the table below.

Everton's Milestone Premier League Goals

100: Daniel Amokachi	QPR (h) 17 Sep 1994
200: Andrei Kanchelskis	Sheff Wed (a) 27 Apr 1996
300: Danny Cadamarteri	West Ham (a) 19 Dec 1998
400: David Unsworth	Leicester City (a) 24 Sep 2000
500: Lee Carsley	Blackburn Rovers (h) 14 Dec 2002
600: Tim Cahill	Middlesbrough (a) 16 Jan 2005
700: Mikel Arteta	Portsmouth (h) 5 May 2007
800: Marouane Fellaini	Wigan (h) 5 April 2009
900: Marouane Fellaini	West Ham (h) 22 Jan 2011

 
Traditionally, games between Everton and Tottenham at Goodison have not had anyone scrambling for the abacus. In fact, only once has either of the sides managed more than two goals when the two sides have met on Merseyside – Everton’s 3-1 win in April 2004 (a game in which all our goals came from defenders).
 
Despite that, Spurs (41 goals) sit sixth in the list of clubs the Blues have found to be most generous over the past 20 and a bit seasons, trailing only West Ham (51), Newcastle (46), Sunderland (43), Aston Villa (42) and Middlesbrough (42).

Most Goals By Club

West Ham United	58
Newcastle United	46
Sunderland	43
Aston Villa	42
Middlesbrough	42
Tottenham Hotspur	41
Chelsea	41
Manchester City	40

 
The leading Everton marksman since the inaugural campaign is, of course, Duncan Ferguson. The fearsome Scot hit 60 league goals during his two spells with the Club, putting him four ahead of his nearest rival, Tim Cahill. Kevin Campbell comes in third on 45, while Leon Osman on 36 is the highest of the current squad in fourth.
 
Everton's Leading Premier League Goalscorers

Duncan Ferguson	60
Tim Cahill	56
Kevin Campbell	45
Leon Osman	36
David Unsworth	33
Paul Rideout	29
Tony Cottee	28
Mikel Arteta	27
Louis Saha	27
Yakubu/Tomasz Radzinski	25

And while Evertonians will undoubtedly be optimistic of their side extending a recent run of form which has brought just two defeats in 24 league outings, not even the most Blue-tinted of supporters will expect the Toffees to trouble their record Premier League scoreline on Sunday.

Twice the Blues have hit seven – thrashing Southampton 7-1 in November 1996, then racking up the same scoreline against Sunderland 11 years later in what remains Moyes’ biggest win in all competitions.

If it proves enough for victory, Everton will take just the one goal on Sunday. A place in the record books awaits it.

Were you there to see any of Everton's milestone Premier League goals? Which of the 999 remains your favourite? And which of Ferguson's 60 will live on in the memory? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts so please leave your comments using the comment box below or tweet me @efc_adamclark.
 
My thanks go to Gavin Buckland (@GavinBuckland1) for providing many of the stats above.