7 Best Aston Villa Strikers in Premier League History (Ranked)

Ollie Watkins’ excellent form for Aston Villa earned him an England call-up to a major tournament for the first time in his career.

The Villans have spent 29 seasons in the Premier League since its foundation in 1992, scoring well over a thousand goals, yet with no striker reaching the century mark in the competition, goals have been well distributed among those that have turned out for the 1982 European champions.

Watkins follows in a long list of strikers for Villa that have had international appearances due to their form for the club, with names such as Dwight Yorke, Milan Baros and Christian Benteke racking up numerous international appearances whilst playing at Villa Park.

In contrast to that success, the Midlands club have had strikers that have failed to impress, with big names such as Danny Ings, Kevin Phillips and Stan Collymore struggling to find form in the claret and blue.

Ranking Factors

GiveMeSport have ranked Aston Villa’s seven leading Premier League strikers of all time, based on the following factors:

• Goal scoring ability
• Goal scoring stats (Minutes per goal & Goals per game)
• Legacy
• Impact at club

7 John Carew

Signed in a swap deal with Milan Baros from French side Lyon in January 2007, John Carew quickly established himself as a fan favourite at Villa Park as his partnership with Gabriel Agbonlahor was vital to the club finishing 6th for all of his three full seasons at the club, securing European football in each. Known for his height and power, Carew scored 37 goals in 113 league games for the club, a solid strike rate considering the goals were distributed well among the Villa teams under Martin O’Neill. Highlights included a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Newcastle in February 2008, a brace in the Second City derby in April of the same year and a memorable looping volley against Stoke in 2009 that earned him Villa’s Goal of the Season. He joined the Potters on loan in 2011 and was released by the Villans in the summer of that year. He joined West Ham for a year before retiring in 2013.

6 Juan Pablo Angel

A club-record signing at the time after his £9.5m move from Argentine side River Plate, Angel was known as a prolific goalscorer before his move to Villa and continued that with the club despite a slow start to his career in England. In all competitions, Angel is Villa’s fourth-highest goalscorer since the Premier League’s foundation, only behind Dwight Yorke, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ollie Watkins. He was also part of the Villa side that won the now-defunct Intertoto Cup in 2001, scoring twice in a 4-1 second leg victory over Swiss outfit Basel. The Colombian is one of few Villa players to have scored 20 goals in a single season, racking up 23 across all competitions in the 2003-04 season. He found it tough to replicate those numbers in the following years, never again hitting double digits for the club, but his impact and his character at the club are what made him so loved by the Villa faithful. He moved to the MLS with New York Red Bulls in 2007, where he continued to score goals, becoming their second-highest ever goalscorer. He retired in 2014 after a spell with his boyhood club, Colombian side Atletico Nacional.

5 Christian Benteke

Easily the player with the best minutes per goal and goals per game ratio on this list, Christian Benteke would be higher placed if he had spent longer than three seasons at Villa Park. Signed from Belgian side Genk in 2012, he immediately hit the ground running, scoring on his debut in a win over Swansea, as he scored a career-high 19 league goals, with 23 in all competitions in the 2012/13 season, a record league goal tally for a Villa player in the Premier League. Injury issues stopped him reaching the same goal tally in the following seasons, but he was still crucial to a side that were battling against relegation in each of his seasons at the club. When Benteke was sold to Liverpool for £32.5m in the summer of 2015, Villa were relegated the following season. Highlights for the Belgian at the club include an equalising goal in the 2015 FA Cup semi-final victory over the Reds, and hat tricks in a 6-1 win over Sunderland in 2013 and a 3-3 draw with QPR in 2015. His move to Liverpool failed, however, and he was soon sold to Crystal Palace where he initially regained his Villa form, before struggling with the Eagles, leaving for DC United in 2022.

4 Dion Dublin

Signed from Coventry City in 1998 after finishing as the Premier League’s joint-top goalscorer in the 1997-98 campaign, Dion Dublin immediately made himself a favourite at Villa Park, with seven goals in his first four games, including a hat-trick against Southampton. Dublin’s eye for goal as well as his passionate nature made him a well-loved figure, and 16 goals in all competitions was a strong return for a Villa side that finished 6th in the league. In total, scoring 47 league goals during his time, in a period where Villa also had Angel among other strikers leading the line, Dublin’s minutes per goal ratio is impressive. He was memorably sent off in a Second City derby for headbutting Robbie Savage, and now works as a pundit for the BBC.

3 Dwight Yorke

An academy graduate at Aston Villa, Yorke became one of the league’s best attackers during his stint with Villa, and quickly made himself a key player of a team that missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester United in 1992-93 and won the League Cup in 1996. He held the record for Villa’s all-time leading Premier League goalscorer until Gabriel Agbonlahor overtook him in 2013. He twice hit more than 20 goals in a Villa shirt in all competitions, in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons respectively. His legacy among Villa fans was damaged by his departure, however, as he forced through a move to Manchester United for £12.8m in August 1998, after being unhappy with manager John Gregory’s decision to block a move initially, and he was often booed on his return to Villa Park, not helped by his move to rivals Birmingham City in 2004. During his time with the Red Devils, he won five major trophies, including being a part of the famous treble-winning team in 1999. He was named Premier League Player of the Season in the same year after winning the Golden Boot. He retired in 2009 after being released by Sunderland.

2 Gabriel Agbonlahor

The second consecutive academy graduate on this list, Gabriel Agbonlahor is Villa’s record Premier League goalscorer, having scored 73 goals in his time with the club. He was known for his explosive pace, and his ability to beat a man whilst dribbling. His best seasons came under Martin O’Neill where he scored 36 league goals across three seasons to help his boyhood club to European football and earned himself three England caps. He made himself a club hero with his goal record in the Second City derby, consistently scoring against Villa’s Midlands rivals, including a late winner in November 2008 at St. Andrew’s. The later years of his Villa career were more troublesome for Agbonlahor, as he struggled with injury and fitness issues, and never again hit double digits in his remaining six Premier League campaigns. However, he did overtake Dwight Yorke as the club’s leading Premier League goalscorer in a 6-1 win over Sunderland in 2013. He remained at Villa as the club were relegated and retired at the age of 32 in 2019 after being released by the club.

1 Ollie Watkins

Fresh off the back of the best season of his Premier League career, where he scored 27 goals in all competitions, including 19 league goals, Ollie Watkins has earned himself a place in Gareth Southgate’s provisional squad for Euro 2024. Watkins also put up 13 assists in the Premier League in 2023/24, earning himself the Playmaker of the Season award as the player with the most assists in the league. His 19 league goals also came without taking penalties, and his tally is a joint club-record. Watkins has become one of the league’s leading strikers due to his consistency and all-round play, having never fallen below 11 league goals in a season for the club since his £33m move from Brentford. Memorable moments for the 28-year-old include hat-tricks in a 7-2 win over Liverpool in October 2020, and in a 6-1 win over Brighton in September 2023. Watkins is also now only 14 goals away from leveling Agbonlahor’s record tally of Premier League goals for the club, something he could well reach in 2024/25.

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All stats are sourced from TransferMarkt.