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Craig Dawson helped bury West Ham's grave on Sunday as he scored the opening goal of a match against Manchester United- into his own net. Though Dawson looked mortified after tipping the ball over the wrong goal line, he's far from alone. Own goals are long, rich tradition in football that many would love to forget. But can you guess which 10 teams in the English Premier League have the highest tally? West Ham almost make the cut at No 11...
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10. SUNDERLAND: They famously became first team in the league to score three own goals in one match in 2003 against Charlton, ending in a 3-1 defeat completely by their own hand. Yet somehow, they still managed to only be at No 10 on the list with 39 o.g.s to their name.
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9. SOUTHAMPTON: At ninth place, Southampton equal Sunderland's record of 39 o.g.s. Just this season, Southampton suffered a 9-0 loss to Manchester City, the worst defeat in the league's history, and one of those goals was an own goal. Add two red cards to the mix, and that's sure to be a night they'll never forget.
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8. MANCHESTER CITY: One of the most damaging own goals in history wasn't in the EPL, but in Division Two, when City's Jamie Pollock's misdirected header caused City to be relegated into the third tier of football for the first time ever. The table-leaders currently have 39 own goals in the league, and six of them are thanks to notorious wrong-end-shooter Richard Dunne.
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7. FULHAM: Fulham's the last of the EPL teams on this list to be tied for 39 o.g.s. Unfortunately, one of those came earlier this month against the Spurs, when Tosin Adarabioyo gave away the game with a costly own goal that resulted in a 1-0 defeat.
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6. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: At 6th place, the Spurs have a whopping 40 own goals in the league. One of the more recent ones was last season against Liverpool, when Toby Alderweireld netted a heart-stopping own goal at the 90th minute to break a tie and give Liverpool a 2-1 win. Funnily enough, Liverpool and the Spurs are now tied for amount of own goals in the league.
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5. LIVERPOOL: The Reds also have 40 own goals in the league. And 14 out of their total tally of own goals across all competitions can be split between two players: Jamie Carragher and Martin Škrtel, who each netted seven goals on the wrong end of the pitch during their time at the club.
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4. MANCHESTER UNITED: Managing to break into the top four are Manchester United with 41 own goals. It wasn't too long ago (July 2020 to be exact) that Harry Maguire gifted Chelsea a goal to make it 3-0 to the Blues.
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3. ARSENAL: Notorious for loving a good own goal every now and then, Arsenal make it to the list at No 3 with a tally of 44. In fact, they achieved an unwanted feat just last year: in December, Rob Holding became the third Gunner to score an own goal after Bukayo Saka and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this season.
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2. ASTON VILLA: With a tally of 47 o.g.s, Aston Villa clock in at second place. Chris Nicholl has the most astonishing story to tell here: in 1976, the Villa player scored all four goals in a match against Leicester City. The catch? The score was 2-2, as Nicholl's unwittingly targeted his own net twice.
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1. EVERTON: In unwanted first place are Everton, with a shocking 54 own goals. It would take any other team a while to catch. The tally was just boosted a week ago, when Ben Godfrey scored at the wrong end to give Chelsea the lead, resulting in a 1-0 score at half-time and a 2-0 defeat at full-time. Let's hope they don't make it 55 anytime soon.
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