With a former Chelsea player currently lighting up the Premier League in his second stint in England, Blues fans might want to see some positive news about some of their former goalscorers. While Mohamed Salah is steaming towards his first Golden Boot, there’s no place for him in this list of Chelsea’s top 5 Premier League goalscorers.
5. Gianfranco Zola – 59 goals
Not just one of Chelsea’s top goalscorers, but also one of their greatest players, especially before the Roman Abramovich era. The word magician springs to mind when mentioning Gianfranco Zola as the things he could do with a ball were quite magnificent.
The Italian forward joined Chelsea in 1996 and in many ways, was ahead of his time in the English leagues. After dancing through the Manchester United penalty area and slotting the ball past a helpless Peter Schmeichel in February 1997, Sir Alex Ferguson called Zola a “clever little so-and-so”. Not only did he score 59 league goals, he also recorded 42 assists.
4. Eden Hazard – 68 goals*
The only current Blues player in this list and certainly the best player Antonio Conte’s squad. Eden Hazard has played a vital role in the Champions’ last two title wins, most notably last term. However, what’s most impressive has been his level of performance during this campaign as he has stood out in an underperforming Chelsea side.
One of the Belgium international’s main criticisms was his lack of impact when his team were struggling, as he did in the 2015/16 season, but since August, the 27-year-old has dragged his team-mates to some very important results. For someone has played mostly out wide for the Blues, scoring 68 league goals in 200 games is extremely impressive.
3. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – 69 goals
While he might be third in the list, with the aforementioned Hazard just a single goal behind him, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will probably have to settle for fourth place very soon. The current Northampton Town manager had a brilliant goalscoring record during his time in West London with more than one goal every two games on average.
With a footballing career that spanned 10 clubs, the Dutchman played the most games for Chelsea and spent four great years at Stamford Bridge. He picked up the Premier League Golden Boot in the 2000/01 campaign with 23 goals and left in 2003/04 after finishing as a runner-up in the English top flight.
2. Didier Drogba – 104 goals
Arguably the greatest foreign footballer to play in England and one of the greatest Africans to ever to play the beautiful game, Didier Drogba could bring a group of Chelsea fans to their knees in worship. The former Marseille striker is the third highest Premier League scorer from outside Europe of all-time and the highest from Africa.
Like Hazard, he was instrumental in each of the four title-winning seasons he participated in and secured the Golden Boot in the 2009/10 title win. With Steven Gerrard’s talk of Mo Salah being the best African to set foot in the Premier League, he was quickly shot down by fans of all clubs throwing Drogba’s hat in the ring.
1. Frank Lampard – 147 goals
A player who epitomises the word ‘legend’. Frank Lampard would be seen by a large proportion of Chelsea fans as on par with John Terry as the greatest player in Blues history and you’d struggle to argue with them. There are very few midfielders who can boast such an incredible record in front of goal and as the leading scoring midfielder in the Premier League era, there hasn’t been a better goalscoring midfielder in England since 1992.
No one expected that as a young lad signing from West Ham in 2001, the England legend would go on to play 429 times in the league for Chelsea over 13 years whilst scoring 147 goals in the process. Only Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole have scored more in the Premier League era.
* Still playing for Chelsea
