Jermain Defoe Scores His 200th Career Goal against Chelsea

Jermain Defoe celebrates his 200th career goal scored against Chelsea [Photo: Reuters]

Jermain Defoe scored his 200th career goal against Chelsea in the Premier League match at White Hart Lane yesterday. Defoe’s goal in the 54th minute put Spurs ahead after being behind at the interval, sweeping in a driven cross from Aaron Lennon. Unfortunately, the goal didn’t enable Tottenham to take the three points from their London rivals as Chelsea recovered to take a 4 – 2 win.

Defoe’s senior goalscoring career started in September, 2000 with West Ham United when he scored the only goal on his debut in the League Cup against Walsall. He then went out on loan to Bournemouth where he came to the attention of the media by scoring in ten consecutive games for the 2nd Division club as he amassed 19 League and Cup goals for the south coast club that season.

Returning to West Ham United, he scored another 40 goals over the next two and a half seasons. In January, 2004 Defoe joined Tottenham for £7 million with Bobby Zamora moving to Upton Park as part of the deal. He scored on his debut against Portsmouth and grabbed four goals in his first three matches for Spurs. By the time he joined Portsmouth in January, 2008 he had taken his total of goals for Spurs to 64. Twelve months on and having contributed 17 goals to the Portsmouth cause, he returned to White Hart Lane. He has scored another 59 goals for Tottenham, including five this season.

Defoe has been leading scorer for Totttenham on two occasions – in 2004-05 with 22 goals in all competitions and in 2009-10 when he scored 24.

Tottenham Hat-tricks

Defoe has scored five hat-tricks in his club career plus one for England. His Tottenham hat-tricks include three in the Premier League and one in the FA Cup.

• Dec. 2004  PL  v Southampton (h)   Won 5 – 1
• Aug. 2009  PL  v Hull City (a)   Won 5 – 1
• Nov. 2009  PL  v Wigan Athletic (h)  Won 9 – 1 [Scored 5]
• March, 2010  FA Cup  v Leeds United (a)  Won 3 – 1

Twenty Premier League Goals as a Substitute

Many of Defoe’s goals have been scored after coming on as a substitute and he holds the record having scored more goals (20) as a substitute than any other player in Premier League history. In the final match of last season against Fulham, Defoe scored Spurs’ second goal – their last goal of the season. Spurs introduced Defoe in place of Van der Vaart after an hour and two minutes was all that he needed to score – Defoe set Lennon off on the right and when the winger’s shot deflected to him, he scored.

The substitute’s role has always been very frustrating for Defoe but he has never complained, giving his all for his team whether it be Tottenham, West Ham United, Portsmouth or England. All he wants to do is play and he thrives on goals. This year Andre Villas-Boas has shown confidence in Defoe, starting him in every League and European game and the player has responded to that responsibility with five goals and the increased work rate required of a lone striker.

England

Defoe’s career with England started in 2004 and has made 52 appearances, scoring 17 goals. He scored in the recent World Cup qualifier against Moldova, on his 50th appearance. He has scored one hat-trick in internationals – in 2010 against Bulgaria at Wembley. The England manager at the time, Fabio Capello praised Defoe’s performance and his all round ability and contribution to the team.

"“Defoe is always very important for us. He can shoot with his left foot and his right and his performance was really, really good and his movement without the ball was fantastic.”"

He has scored twice for England this season, including the winning goal in the friendly against Italy in August. He was omitted from the team to play San Marino which he must have found annoying as they would have been ideal opponents for a true goal scorer.

Memorable Moments:

Jermain Defoe scored five against Wigan in 2009

The day he scored five against Wigan Athletic in November, 2009 must rank highly in his list of memorable career moments. As Tottenham recorded a 9 – 1 success, Defoe couldn’t stop scoring in the second half when all his goals came. Early in the second half Defoe scored twice in three minutes only for Wigan to pull one back three minutes later. Spurs felt aggrieved, knowing that the goal should have been disallowed for a hand ball. They responded with Defoe completing his hat-trick a minute later. Lennon added a fifth and Defoe scored his fourth with just over ten minutes remaining. Spurs then scored three in the final three minutes with Defoe getting his fifth.

At thirty years of age Defoe knows that he doesn’t have many more years left at the very top level of football so he wants to make the most of them and enjoy them. This season he’s getting that opportunity for both Tottenham and England and he’s making it very difficult for Andre Villas-Boas to leave him out of the Spurs’ team. Two hundred career goals and he’s gradually climbing up the list of all time scorers for Tottenham. The goal against Chelsea takes him above Robbie Keane and into ninth position. His next target is Teddy Sheringham who has one more than him and then Alan Gilzean who is a further ten ahead. These present themselves as targets for Defoe for the remainder of the season and while he scores, he’ll be happy and so will his manager and the Tottenham supporters.

Congratulations to Jermain Defoe on reaching the landmark of two hundred goals in his club career. I’m sure there’ll be many more from him in the coming seasons as he’s never lost his hunger and desire to score goals.

Which of Defoe’s goals for Tottenham is your favourite?