Ryan Babel made a record with his strike against West Ham last Friday as his goal ended a 3,000 say wait for a Premier League goal. The Dutch winger lies in the top ten list for the longest times between goals in the Premier League.
Babel scored in the third minute of his side 3-1 defeat to West Ham at the London stadium. The goal was his first Premier League strike since December 2010 when he was on target for Liverpool in their 3-0 defeat of Aston Villa.
The Player who holds the longest stint without scoring a goal is Matt Jackson whose goal for Wigan against Charlton in November 2006 came 4,935 days after scoring for Everton against Manchester City in May 1993. While Andy Johnson, John Oyster, Simon Charlton, Peter Whittingham and Stephen Quinn comes before Babel with 3563, 3444, 3433, 3234,3033,3000,2884 respectively.
Babel has endured a journeyman career since his departure from Liverpool in 2011 and has played for as many as six clubs before signing for Fulham in January. The 32-year-old has enjoyed stints at Hoffeinheim, Kasimpasa, Al Ain. Deportivo and Besiktas.
Babel’s goal against West Ham was not enough as West Ham struck back through goals from Javier Hernandez, IssaDiop and Michael Antonio ensured that Fulham went back empty-handed.
The former Liverpool forward spent years at Anfield scoring 26 goals in 144 appearances in all competitions. He has made 5 appearances so far in the league since he made the switch from Turkish giants Besiktas in January. Fulham currently sits 19th in the Premier League table eight points adrift from safety with 11 games remaining. Babel would be hoping that his goal against West Ham would be the first of many as the London club attempts to try to engineer a miraculous escape from the drop.