Albion Analytics: Danny Welbeck becomes our record Premier League scorer

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Danny moved ahead of Pascal Gross in the Premier League goalscoring charts for Albion.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2025-04-11T15:00+01:00

Danny Welbeck has scored 75 Premier League goals in his career. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

With his equaliser away to Crystal Palace last weekend, Danny Welbeck became Albion’s outright top-scorer in Premier League history.

It was his 31st Premier League goal for Brighton, going clear of Pascal Gross (30) in the club charts, and scored on his 133rd appearance for the club.

With those 31 strikes coming from just under 8,200 league minutes, it averages out to a Premier League goal every 264 minutes for Welbeck on the south coast, marginally better than one every three games.

Danny Welbeck's strike against Crystal Palace was the 31st of his Premier League career for Albion, making him our top scorer in the top-flight.

Since his Brighton debut in late 2020, only five players have scored more Premier League goals aged 30+ than Welbeck: Michail Antonio (32), Son Heung-min (34), Chris Wood (37), Jamie Vardy (40) and Mohammed Salah (64).

Welbeck now has more goals and appearances for Brighton than any other club, totalling 49 goal involvements across all competitions (35 goals, 14 assists), after scoring 29 in 142 games for boyhood club Manchester United and 32 in 126 Arsenal appearances. Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler called Welbeck a “leader on and off the pitch and a role model for his behaviour. I am very happy that he's in good shape. This (club Premier League goals) record is not just because he is a good player, it is because of hard work."

There is a particularly pleasing variety to Welbeck’s goals. His 41.3% shot accuracy over the past four seasons is 4% above the Premier League average, and he is particularly adept at picking out corners. He is one of only 11 Premier League players, and the only Brighton player, to score seven-plus goals with the left-foot, right-foot and head since 2020/21, with a split of 7, 14 and ten goals by those body parts.

The striker has made 357 Premier League appearances. 📷 by Simon Roe.

In September, he scored his first-ever direct free-kick goal in the Premier League (at home to Nottingham Forest). It is one of five goals he has from outside the box at Brighton, a sign of his excellent ball-striking, though his best work is done in the penalty area, notably with ten goals from 29 shots inside the six-yard box — that is twice as many as the next best teammate (Lewis Dunk, with 5) in the time Welbeck has been at the club.

Ultimately, not all goals are worth the same. The former England international only has four Premier League match-winners at Brighton — though three have been this season, at home to Tottenham Hotspur, away to Newcastle and against Bournemouth — but has still consistently scored meaningful goals.

On ten occasions he has opened the scoring and a further seven have been equalisers. In total, 21 of his Premier League goals for Brighton have been game-state changing (from losing to drawing or drawing to winning).

"He's a role model. I'm very happy that he's in the squad." 🙌 Fabian was full of praise for Albion's record goalscorer in today's press conference! 💪 @MonsterEnergy ⚡️
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) April 11, 2025

He has become something of a super sub too, only finishing 33 of his 92 league starts — to manage his playing time — and coming off the bench 41 times. He has scored nine Premier League goals as a substitute since 2020/21, a tally that only Liverpool’s Diogo Jota (10) can better. Those goals have come from 39 shots worth 8.8xG, a conversion rate of nearly one in five.

The campaign could, and perhaps should, end with more records for Welbeck. He is on eight league goals in 2024/25, his most in a season for over a decade (9 in 2013-14), and at his current scoring rate — a goal every 200 minutes this term — he is on track to break into double digits for the first time as a Premier League player.