From Tammy Abraham to Bobby Tambling, Chelsea has had a reputation of having one of the best front-men in the English game. Here, we’ll see who trumps who in this list of the best Chelsea strikers of all time.

5. Kerry Dixon

Kerry Dixon served the blues for 9 years where he won the second division twice and ended up with 420 appearances to his name, a number that remains 9th highest in the club’s history.

During his spell, he also scored 193 goals for the west London side, a figure surpassed only by Bobby Tambling and Frank Lampard. He moved to Chelsea in 1983 as a part of John Neal’s radical re-building of the side. He joined a Chelsea side that was nearly relegated three months earlier and left them in a comfortable mid-table first division position. He won 2-second division league titles with Chelsea and his name will forever be in the hearts of Chelsea fans.

He had become a high profile player regularly scoring in the top division, even winning the Golden Boot but stayed with Chelsea when they were relegated in 1988. He scored 25 goals as Chelsea returned to the first division as league champions in their first attempt.

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4. Roy Bentley

The late Roy Bentley comes fourth in our list of top Chelsea strikers of all time. Bentley was an influential figure at Stamford Bridge and played 12 seasons for the Blues racking up 367 appearances in all. Most importantly he led the Blues to their first-ever league title in 1954-55. In his 367 appearances, he scored 152 goals for the Blues and was the record goalscorer for the club at the time of his retirement.

At the time of his demise in 2018, he stood 5th in the list with Frank Lampard, Bobby Tambling, Kerry Dixon and Didier Drogba all ahead of him in the all-time scoring charts. After his decade long spell at the Bridge, he had shorter spells at nearby clubs Fulham and QPR after which he retired from football.

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3. Bobby Tambling

Bobby Tambling joined Chelsea as a 15-year-old boy and left having played 12 full seasons and scoring 202 goals, a figure which stood for more than 40

years before Frank Lampard broke it in 2013. 2 years following his debut in 1959, striker Jimmy Greaves had left for AC Milan leaving him as the club’s main striker, a task which he fulfilled with utmost certainty. He was made the club-captain in 1962 and Chelsea immediately returned to the top division with Bobby Tambling as their top scorer.

Tambling still holds the record for the highest number of goals scored for Chelsea in a league game. He scored five goals in a 6–2 away win at Aston Villa on 17 September 1966 before being substituted by Allan Harris.

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He was a member of the team which won the 1965 Football League Cup Final. Tambling was also a member of the Chelsea side which lost the 1967 FA Cup Final. Although he scored for Chelsea, his 85th-minute goal was little more than a consolation as Tottenham Hotspur, with former Chelsea players Greaves and Venables, won 2–1.

By the end of the decade, Tambling had lost his place in the starting line-up to younger strikers like Peter Osgood and Ian Hutchinson. He played only seven games for Chelsea in the 1969–70 season and was not selected for the 1970 FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Leeds United. At the end of the season, he transferred to Crystal Palace.

In 2004, Tambling had a suite named after him at Stamford Bridge, in honour of his status at Chelsea. He was named in the club’s greatest ever XI, selected to mark the club’s centenary.

2. Peter Osgood

Peter Osgood had two spells at Chelsea, spanning a combined 11 years in which he won the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Club Winner’s Cup. Osgood was signed in February 1964 by Chelsea as a junior and made his debut as a 17-year-old in the League Cup, scoring both goals in a 2–0 win. Osgood had a rather playboy image around him as he enjoyed the trappings of fame, boozy nights out, gambling and owned a racing greyhound called Railroad Billy. This kept him in the papers more often than not.

He was kept out of Chelsea’s first-ever Wembley FA Cup final in 1967 due to a broken leg which he suffered in October 1966 against Blackburn. This was a major disappointment for Osgood, but after he returned from the injury his abilities were recognised by new manager Dave Sexton playing him often as a midfielder, notably wearing the number 4 shirt for most of the 1968– 69 season. Though he is best remembered as a goal-scoring centre-forward, and the number 9. He was given the nickname “the Wizard of Os”.

He returned to Chelsea after a disappointing spell in the United States where he scored a single goal in 23 matches with Philadelphia Fury. When he returned Chelsea were in a relegation battle. He then retired after the season.

Osgood was commonly called “Ossie” and also earned the nickname “The King of Stamford Bridge” due to his exceptional skills as a player as well as his personality and status. To this day, Peter Osgood’s status in the London club is unrivalled. He scored a total of 150 goals for the Blues in which a 105 came in the League.

1. Didier Drogba

Drogba moved to Chelsea for a fee of 24 million from French club Marseille in Roman Abramovich’s second year and Jose Mourinho’s first year in charge of the club. Mourinho was said to have preferred Drogba to Ronaldinho when he was given the choice by Abramovich to sign any player in the entire world. Drogba took a while to get going with Chelsea but few players were as influential as the Ivory Coast international. He scored a total of 164 goals in 381 appearances for the club over two stints in which he won 4 Premier League titles, multiple FA Cups and League Cups and the Champions League. He holds the record for most league goals scored in a single season for Chelsea when he netted 29 goals en-route to the Premier League title in 2009-10.

Must Read: All -time Chelsea XI

Drogba was known to be a big game player and he scored 9 goals in 10 Cup final appearances with the Blues. He only failed to score in the 2008 Champions League final and the 2014 League Cup final (he played only a few seconds after being brought on in added time). His most memorable moment remains the club’s best when he won Chelsea the 2011-12 Champions League, scoring a late equalizer and then the winning penalty.

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Honorable Mentions:

• Fernando Torres
• Eidur Gudjohnse
• Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
• Diego Costa
• Mark Hughes