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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lee Wilmot

Spurs legend Ledley King loses goal record as Shane Long creates Premier League history

An 18-year-old Premier League record has been broken.

For 18 years and four months, Tottenham Hotspur legend Ledley King held the record for the fastest goal ever scored in Premier League history.

King's strike against Bradford City straight from kick-off in December 2000 was timed at 9.82 seconds and had never been beaten until this day.

That was despite coming under pressure from another Tottenham player - Christian Eriksen - when he scored after 10 seconds against Manchester United in January 2018.

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But King's record has now been broken by Shane Long, after the Southampton man scored just 7.69 seconds into the game with Watford at Vicarage Road - beating King's record by more than two seconds!

King admitted after that Spurs win over United last year that he was worried about losing his record.

He said back then: "I was at the game and was taking my seat and I just heard a roar and, initially, I thought, 'what's happened, who's scored?'

"And then a little while after, I thought, 'that's quick, that's challenging my record.'

"So I started asking people, 'what time was that?' And a few people were saying, 'Ten, 12 [seconds].' That's when I realised I actually cared about my record! I didn't want to lose it!"

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