The English football champions who have had the lowest top goalscorer in a season are often surprisingly low-scoring. In fact, Arsenal's top scorers this season, Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard, both have just five goals each.
The reason for this is not unique to Arsenal, however. Among Premier League champions, only Everton, Sunderland, and Wolves have had a leading scorer with fewer than 15 goals in a season. This trend is also seen in other European top-flight leagues.
A closer look at the records reveals that some serial champions, like Liverpool in the 1970s, Manchester United in the 1990s, José Mourinho's Chelsea, and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, have shared their scoring load among different players. In fact, Don Revie's Leeds were not quite serial champions but still managed to distribute their goals effectively during their 1973-74 title-winning season.
The least productive top scorers among Premier League champions include Frank Lampard (Chelsea) and Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), who both scored 13 goals in a season. Other notable mentions include Eric Cantona (Manchester United), who scored 14 goals, and Mark Hughes, Teddy Sheringham, and Kevin De Bruyne, who all reached double figures with 15 or more goals.
Before the Premier League era, the top flight went through different phases, with some champions regularly scoring 30 goals in a season. However, at other times, teams struggled to reach 20 goals.
A notable example from Sunderland's fourth title in 1901-02 is that their biggest goal threats, Jimmy Gemmell and Billy Hogg, both scored just 10 goals that season. This record was broken only recently, with Sheffield United's 8-0 loss against Newcastle United in September 2023 being the most recent outright league defeat.
Other questions answered by The Knowledge include whether a referee has ever scored a goal in a top-flight European match (the answer is no), who was the first player to be loaned with the expectation of a transfer after the loan period (this is not documented), and what is the greatest disparity in a full season between the number of teams registering positive or negative goal differences in the Bundesliga (Bayern Munich's +57 GD stands out).
The reason for this is not unique to Arsenal, however. Among Premier League champions, only Everton, Sunderland, and Wolves have had a leading scorer with fewer than 15 goals in a season. This trend is also seen in other European top-flight leagues.
A closer look at the records reveals that some serial champions, like Liverpool in the 1970s, Manchester United in the 1990s, José Mourinho's Chelsea, and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, have shared their scoring load among different players. In fact, Don Revie's Leeds were not quite serial champions but still managed to distribute their goals effectively during their 1973-74 title-winning season.
The least productive top scorers among Premier League champions include Frank Lampard (Chelsea) and Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), who both scored 13 goals in a season. Other notable mentions include Eric Cantona (Manchester United), who scored 14 goals, and Mark Hughes, Teddy Sheringham, and Kevin De Bruyne, who all reached double figures with 15 or more goals.
Before the Premier League era, the top flight went through different phases, with some champions regularly scoring 30 goals in a season. However, at other times, teams struggled to reach 20 goals.
A notable example from Sunderland's fourth title in 1901-02 is that their biggest goal threats, Jimmy Gemmell and Billy Hogg, both scored just 10 goals that season. This record was broken only recently, with Sheffield United's 8-0 loss against Newcastle United in September 2023 being the most recent outright league defeat.
Other questions answered by The Knowledge include whether a referee has ever scored a goal in a top-flight European match (the answer is no), who was the first player to be loaned with the expectation of a transfer after the loan period (this is not documented), and what is the greatest disparity in a full season between the number of teams registering positive or negative goal differences in the Bundesliga (Bayern Munich's +57 GD stands out).
I mean, think about it... top-scoring isn't everything! It's actually kinda cool that these champion teams are sharing the goals around. Like, remember how great Liverpool was back in the 70s? They didn't have this super high-scorer hero like we see nowadays. Pep Guardiola's City and José Mourinho's Chelsea had their players chipping in too. 
It just shows that success can come from a team effort, you know?
she has these crazy beautiful hydrangeas that change color depending on the pH level of the soil 
i mean, have you ever seen anything like it? anyway, back to football... 15 goals in a season is actually pretty cool, i guess 
️ i wonder if they're just not trying that hard or something lol. and yeah, Liverpool in the 70s were like the ultimate example of sharing scoring duties among players 
. I mean, 5 goals from Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard at Arsenal? That's crazy! 
And it's not just them, either - Everton, Sunderland, and Wolves all had leading scorers with fewer than 15 goals in a season. 
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. Frank Lampard and Ilkay Gundogan both scored 13 goals, which is pretty low. And Eric Cantona was just a bit better with 14 goals 
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- Sunderland had two goal threats scoring just 10 goals in 1901-02? That's wild! 
but i do love the examples of teams sharing scoring duties in the past tho. that leeds 1973-74 season is straight fire 
. And what's up with Liverpool in the 70s? They had some legends like Pele... I mean, Kenny Dalglish 
, but still managed to share the scoring load like it was no big deal 