Is there a better term than “finishers” for these impact players? The football world still calls them super subs.
We’re hunting the bench maestros who flip matches on their heads, the go‑to gunslingers when a manager needs a goal fast.
An honorary nod goes to Adam le Fondre, a one‑season wonder who still holds the record for most substitute goals in a single Premier League campaign – five of his eight came in a three‑game burst in January 2013.
Hernán Crespo boasts the highest goals‑per‑game ratio, yet his six strikes in 16 sub appearances for Chelsea are a tiny sample, as is Mark Robins’ five in 14 outings for Norwich and Leicester.
To crack the top‑ten all‑time super‑subs list, a player must deliver consistently across a career, adding both goals and assists from the bench.
Here’s my ranking – feel free to voice your own picks in the comments.”,”10. Theo Walcott“,”Walcott has been subbed on 168 times, the most in Premier League history, but his true value lies in what he does after the whistle blows.”,”Bursting onto the scene as a lightning‑quick teenager, the forward gave Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger a pace‑filled weapon that left full‑backs gasping.”,”The England international built an impressive substitute résumé over his top‑flight years.”,”No one tops Walcott’s 14 sub‑assists – only Ryan Giggs and Marc Al Brighton match it – and he added 10 goals for Arsenal, Everton and Southampton.”,”That places him fourth overall for bench‑time goal contributions.”,”9. Victor Anichebe“,”It was a close call between Victor Anichebe and Divock Origi, each scoring half of their Premier League goals as substitutes.”,”Anichebe edged ahead, tallying 13 bench goals – tying him for eighth all‑time – and chipping in five assists.”,”Roman Pavlyuchenko also missed out, with 45% of his 20 Premier League strikes coming off the bench for Tottenham.”,”8. Daniel Sturridge“,”Danny Welbeck makes a strong case, sitting in the top three with 19 sub goals and still has time to climb higher.”,”Welbeck shone at United and Arsenal, but his bench brilliance peaked at Brighton, where 12 of his goals arrived.”,”Now at Chelsea, he isn’t the only former Blue deserving a spot.”,”Sturridge trails Welbeck by two substitute goals but boasts a higher 22% of his total Premier League tally as a sub.”,”The former England striker, who featured for City, Chelsea, Bolton, Liverpool and West Brom, also recorded an assist.”,”Overall, his 24 goal contributions rank him just behind Edin Džeko and Ole Gunnar Solskjær.”,”Richarlison matches Sturridge’s minutes‑per‑contribution rate, yet the Brazilian falls short by eight contributions.”,”7. Olivier Giroud“,”A World Cup and Champions League winner, Giroud still lacks a Premier League crown despite his knack for late‑game strikes.”,”He sits second on the all‑time sub‑scoring chart, with 21 of his 90 league goals coming off the bench – nearly a quarter.”,”Giroud honed his impact at Arsenal and Chelsea, amassing 103 substitute appearances over ten seasons.”,”6. Tore Andre Flo“,”Flo combined size with silky touch, a rare blend for a big‑man in England.”,”He netted 34% of his 38 league goals as a sub, the eighth‑best ratio among players with 20+ goals, and ranks joint‑eighth overall for sub goals.”,”His first came three minutes into his Chelsea debut in 1997, and he thrived at the Blues before a later spell at Sunderland.”,”Adding three sub assists, he ranks fifth for minutes‑per‑goal involvement, averaging a goal every 78 minutes off the bench.”,”5. Javier Hernández“,”The Little Pea may be small, but he’s a nightmare for tired defenders.”,”Among players with at least ten substitute goals, only Sergio Aguero beats his strike rate, making Hernández the sixth‑most prolific super‑sub.”,”He scored 19 times in 78 sub appearances – 0.24 per game – with 36% of his league goals coming after starting on the bench, mainly for Manchester United and later West Ham.”,”His average was a goal every 88 minutes as a replacement.”,”Only Jermain Defoe and Giroud have more sub goals, and he joins a elite group of seven who have netted five match‑winning strikes off the bench.”,”4. Edin Džeko“,”At 40, Džeko still finds the net for Schalke, but his Premier League bench record remains stellar.”,”He scored 50 league goals for Manchester City, with over a quarter coming as a substitute.”,”Only Aguero and Hernández have better goals‑per‑game ratios among ten‑goal‑plus subs, and Džeko ties Solskjær for the best minutes‑per‑goal rate – a goal every 83 minutes.”,”When assists are added, Džeko stands alone with 17 contributions in 56 sub appearances, averaging a goal involvement every 63 minutes.”,”His most memorable bench strike came two minutes before Aguero’s title‑clincher, a header that leveled the game against QPR on the final day of 2012.”,”3. Ole Gunnar Solskjær“,”Solskjær is perhaps the iconic super‑sub, immortalised by his Champions League winner in Barcelona.”,”After starting United’s FA Cup final, he entered the Champions League final in the 81st minute and toe‑poked a stoppage‑time winner against Bayern.”,”He also bagged four goals in the final ten minutes of an 8‑1 victory over Nottingham Forest in February.”,”Focusing on Premier League numbers, Solskjær shares fifth place on the sub‑scoring list with 17 goals, accounting for 19% of his 91 league strikes, at a 0.2 goals‑per‑game rate.”,”His 83‑minute per‑goal average matches Džeko’s, though both benefited from playing in dominant sides.”,”2. Nwankwo Kanu“,”Kanu made an instant impact off the bench for Arsenal.”,”On his debut, he collected a throw‑in and crossed for Marc Overmars to score, sparking a famous FA Cup rematch.”,”In the league, he appeared as a sub in 56 of his 119 Arsenal games.”,”Across spells at West Brom and Portsmouth, he tallied 17 bench goals – 31% of his total league strikes – placing him joint‑fifth on the all‑time list.”,”He also contributed 12 substitute assists, a tally only three players have eclipsed.”,”1. Jermain Defoe“,”Goals are currency, and Defoe has banked the most as a Premier League substitute.”,”All 24 of his bench strikes came in different matches, meaning he also holds the record for most games scored as a sub, including five match‑winners.”,”He hit six sub goals in his debut season, sealing a 3‑2 win for West Ham at Ipswich, and scored his final league sub goal 17 years later to rescue Bournemouth at Watford.”,”Simply put, Defoe – England’s top‑scoring sub with seven goals – was the ruthless finisher every manager coveted.”,”Related topics”,”Is there a new bench hero ready to rewrite the super‑sub story in the next season?
10. Theo Walcott
Theo Walcott, replaced on 168 occasions, holds the record as the most subbed off player in Premier League history. Yet it’s his impact coming on to the pitch we’re interested in here.
Bursting on to the top-flight scene as an explosive teenager, the flying forward was often used by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to stretch defences with his pace and movement – a lactic acid-inducing sight for flailing full-backs.
The England international pieced together an impressive substitute CV throughout his Premier League career.
No-one has more than Walcott’s 14 assists as a sub – Ryan Giggs and Marc Albrighton are level – while he also scored 10 goals as a replacement across his time with the Gunners, Everton and Southampton.
It puts him fourth on the list for overall goal contributions off the bench.
9. Victor Anichebe
This was a toss up between Victor Anichebe and Divock Origi, with both forwards contributing exactly half of all their Premier League goals as a substitute.
Ex-Everton, West Brom and Sunderland striker Anichebe edges it having notched a couple more – a tally of 13 placing the former Nigeria international in joint-eighth on the all-time list – while he also chipped in with five assists off the bench.
Roman Pavlyuchenko was also unlucky to miss out – 45% of his 20 Premier League goals came as a substitute for Tottenham.
8. Daniel Sturridge
There’s a good case for Danny Welbeck, who as the only current player in the top three, with 19 goals, still has time to catch those above him.
Welbeck was a goalscoring sub at Manchester United and Arsenal but perfected the art on the south coast, with 12 of his tally coming during six years with Brighton.
The 35-year-old is now at Chelsea but – with apologies to Danny – there is another former Blue whose stats demand a place on this list.
Daniel Sturridge has two fewer substitute goals then Welbeck but has scored a slightly higher percentage of his overall Premier League tally as a sub – 22%.
The former England man, who played for Manchester City, Chelsea, Bolton, Liverpool and West Brom in the top flight, was good for an assist, too.
In fact, when you take his total goal contributions of 24, he provided at a more prolific rate than every substitute in Premier League history – bar Edin Dzeko and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Richarlison matches Sturridge for minutes per goal contribution, but with eight fewer the Brazilian, perhaps harshly, misses out.
7. Olivier Giroud
A World Cup and Champions League winner, one of the few trophies Olivier Giroud hasn’t got his hands on is the Premier League title despite a knack for scoring important goals off the bench.
The Frenchman is second on the all-time substitute scoring list, accounting for 21 of his 90 top-flight goals – that’s almost a quarter – with only Dzeko, Solskjaer and Javier Hernandez boasting a better minutes-per-goal record as a sub.
Giroud honed his ability to make a late impact at Arsenal and Chelsea, making 103 substitute appearances in total across 10 seasons in the Premier League.
6. Tore Andre Flo
Good feet for a big man. Tore Andre Flo was a menace for Premier League defenders not merely because of his tall, gangly frame but for the silky touches the Norwegian often showed with his giant boots.
Flo scored 34% of his 38 Premier League goals as a substitute – the eighth-highest ratio for those with 20 top-flight goals or more, while he is also joint-eighth overall for goals from a substitute.
The first of those came just three minutes into his Chelsea debut in 1997, and it was with the Blues he enjoyed his best Premier League output before a later stint at Sunderland.
Having also provided three assists as a sub, he ranks fifth for minutes-per-goal involvements, contributing to his side scoring once every 78 minutes on average when used off the bench.
5. Javier Hernandez
The Little Pea. Small in stature but a giant headache for tiring defenders.
Of all players in Premier League history to have scored at least 10 goals as a substitute, only one – Sergio Aguero, and it feels a stretch to call the competition’s sixth-highest scorer a super sub – has netted at a more prolific rate than Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez.
He has 19 in 78 sub appearances, a rate of 0.24 per game, with 36% of all his Premier League goals coming after he started on the bench – predominantly for Manchester United but also later in his career at West Ham.
He netted on average every 88 minutes when used as a replacement.
Indeed, only Jermain Defoe and Giroud have scored more goals as a substitute than the Mexican, while he sits among a leading group of seven – including Defoe – who have scored five match-winners as a sub.
4. Edin Dzeko
Aged 40, Edin Dzeko is still scoring goals for Bundesliga outfit Schalke. His record as a substitute in the Premier League, however, remains among the greatest.
Dzeko netted 50 Premier League goals for Manchester City, with more than a quarter of those coming as a substitute.
Only Aguero and Hernandez, of players to have scored at least 10 goals as a sub, have better goals-per-game ratios than him. When you break it down to minutes per goal, Dzeko is level at the top with Solskjaer – scoring on average every 83 minutes.
He stands alone once you add assists, too – 17 goal contributions during 56 top-flight games as a replacement means Dzeko returned on average every 63 minutes.
The most important of those goals, of course, came in stoppage time against QPR on the final day of the 2012 season. Everyone remembers the Aguero moment, but it was substitute Dzeko’s header two minutes earlier that levelled the game.
3. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is perhaps the most iconic of super subs, largely for that Treble-clinching night in Barcelona.
The baby-faced Norwegian, having started Manchester United’s FA Cup final win over Newcastle four days earlier, came on in the 81st minute of the Champions League final to toe-poke a stoppage-time winner after Teddy Sheringham had equalised against Bayern Munich moments earlier.
It capped a vintage few months for Solskjaer’s super sub legend, having bagged four in the final 10 minutes of an 8-1 win at Nottingham Forest in the February.
Sticking strictly to his Premier League output, Solskjaer is joint-fifth on the all-time substitute scoring list with 17, netting 19% of his 91 top-flight goals off the bench, with a ratio of 0.2 goals-per-game as a sub.
His rate of scoring on average once every 83 minutes off the bench is a competition high that can only be matched by Dzeko. The caveat is, like Dzeko, Solskjaer was playing for one of the most dominant teams in the land.
2. Nwankwo Kanu
Nwankwo Kanu’s impact as a substitute was felt immediately at Arsenal.
Coming off the bench on his debut, the Nigerian forward collected a throw-in meant for a Sheffield United player – after the opposition kicked the ball out for an injury – and crossed for Marc Overmars to score. It sparked a famous FA Cup rematch.
In the Premier League, he was just as ruthless. Kanu, who joined from Inter Milan having earlier won the Champions League at Ajax, made 56 of his 119 top-flight appearances for Arsenal as a sub.
When you take in spells at West Brom and Portsmouth, too, he netted 17 goals off the bench – 31% of all his top-flight strikes – which places him joint-fifth on the all-time substitute scoring list.
But he was almost as prolific at creating them, making 12 assists as a substitute – a tally only bettered by three players in Premier League history.
1. Jermain Defoe
OK, goals are currency and Jermain Defoe has netted more as a substitute than any other Premier League player.
Remarkably, the 24 he scored when coming on all came in different fixtures – which, of course, means he has also scored in more games as a substitute than anyone else. And, as mentioned, a league-high five of those were match-winners.
He scored six times as a substitute in his debut Premier League season, earning West Ham a 3-2 win at Ipswich with his first top-flight goal, and netted for the final time in the competition 17 years later after coming on to rescue Bournemouth a stoppage-time point at Watford.
Simply put, throughout his career, Defoe – also England’s highest-scoring substitute with seven goals – was the ruthless finisher a manager wished to see when anxiously glancing at their bench in need of a goal.