The Barclays Premier League is on target to reach 500 goals at the earliest point in its history.
The next goal scored in the Barclays Premier League will be the 500th this season, with Saturday's meeting between Portsmouth and Liverpool the next opportunity to chalk up the milestone.
The Barclays Premier League is living up to its billing as the most exciting domestic football league in the world. By the end of the fixtures on 16th December, 499 goals had been scored in 167 matches, a fraction under three goals a match.
The earliest that the 500 goal landmark has been reached before was in the 1994/95 season when it took 185 fixtures to reach the milestone.
If the fixture at Fratton Park does not end up goalless then the milestone will be reached 17 matches earlier than ever before.
With 80 points in the Fantasy Premier League this season despite injury problems, Liverpool striker Fernando Torres will be favourite to score the special goal. However Yossi Benayoun,
Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt have also been racking up the points and will fancy their chances, selection permitting.
Bottom club Portsmouth have been improving and both Frederic Piquionne and Aruna Dindane will have their sights set on opening the scoring.
delicately poised
This season has already seen a number of high-scoring matches, including Tottenham Hotspur's
9-1 victory over Wigan Athletic, Arsenal's 6-2 win over Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United's 5-3 success over Burnley.
Top scorers are Chelsea with 42, although Arsenal are just one behind. The race for the Barclays Golden Boot is delicately poised with six players already in double figures for the season.
Chelsea's Didier Drogba (13) leads the race after scoring twice on Saturday (12th December). He is level now with Jermain Defoe who netted in the 3-0 win over Manchester City. But they are closely followed by Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney (12) and Liverpool's Fernando Torres (11) then Darren Bent of Sunderland (10) and Everton's Louis Saha (10).
