Albrighton honoured by Premier League milestone

Aston Villa midfielder Marc Albrighton was proud to earn the honour of scoring the 20,000th Premier League goal on Wednesday.

Albrighton’s goal cancelled out Robin van Persie’s early penalty for Arsenal, before Yossi Benayoun netted a late winner for the Gunners at Villa Park.

With the historic goal, 22-year-old Albrighton was handed a 20,000 pound cheque to donate to his chosen charity – Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust – to be paid on behalf of league sponsor Barclays.

Albrighton was honoured by the accolade and excited for a great cause to receive such generous backing.

“It’s a brilliant occasion and a brilliant feeling to have got that record. It’s something that I can tell the kids and the grandkids about,” Albrighton said.

“The Barclays Premier League is one of the greatest leagues in the world, if not the greatest, so to score the 20,000th goal is a great honour.”

“To raise 20,000 pounds for such a great cause is brilliant and that will make me happy tonight.”

“There are some great people at Acorns doing some special things, they deserve every plaudit they get and they definitely deserve the money. At times you take things too seriously in life but you visit a place like Acorns and it really opens your eyes.”

The first ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane for Sheffield United in their 2-1 victory over Manchester United, which kicked off the Premier League era in 1992.

Les Ferdinand scored the 10,000th goal, for Tottenham against Fulham in December 2001, while Cottagers full-back Moritz Volz was the unlikely scorer of the Premier League’s 15,000th goal.