THE DYNAMIC DUO’S
While paying tribute to the current Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, after his 600th game for Liverpool.
Fernando Torres stated their partnership for three and a half years at Anfield was the best in his career.
That got me thinking about the many great strike partnerships, deadly duo’s and goal scoring double acts the Premier League has seen over its short 19 year history.
So I decided to take a trip down memory lane to remind us of some of the duo’s that has entertained us with goals in that time. There maybe a few I have missed out but as I said these are just “some”
Early birds
In the Premier League’s inaugural season you will be surprised to learn that the most prolific strike partnership of that season were QPR’s Les Ferdinand and Bradley Allen. The classic big man little man combination notched 30 goals with Ferdinand finishing second top goal scorer with 20.
The most prolific strike partnership in Premier League history to date (mainly because then it was a 42 game season) were Newcastle double act Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley. They notched a massive 55 goals collectively taking Newcastle to third in the league.
Cole was a young fresh faced 21 year old Arsenal reject and Beardsley was a 32 year old well traveled, experienced star coming into the twilight of his career. It was a match made in heaven as Cole notched 34 goals (league’s top scorer) and Beardsley netted 21.
Season 93-94 saw another memorable partnership with Arsenal due Ian Wright (23) and Kevin Campbell (14). Together they netted and impressive 37 goals between them.
Who can forget when Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton formed the “sas attack” and fired Blackburn to their one and only title in season 94-95? They scored a massive 49 goals between them in another 42 game season. Shearer topped the scoring charts that season with 34 and Sutton notched 15.
That same season was the first time two strikers from two clubs finished in the top ten of the scoring charts as Spurs duo Jurgen Klinsmann (21) and Teddy Sheringham (18) formed a very successful partnership bagging 39 goals as Spurs finished seventh. Also in that season Liverpool’s present and future combined as Fowler (25) and Ian Rush (12) combined to bag 37 goals as Liverpool finished fourth.
Out with the old, in with the new!
The 38 game season started in 95-96. It was also the start of Liverpool strike duo Robbie Fowler (28, second in scoring charts) and Stan Collymore’s (14) partnership who bagged an impressive 42 goals.
It was widely known that the pair did not get on too well, but that did not hinder the team. That season Liverpool finished third and to date it is Liverpool’s most prolific strike partnership in the Premier League era.
The Liverpool pair continued their scoring in Season 96-97 as the pair notched 30 between them with Fowler scoring 18 finishing third and Collymore 12. That season saw no less than FOUR strike partnerships finish in the top ten of the scoring charts.
The legendary partnership of Ian Wright (23, finishing second) and Dennis Bergkamp (12) hit 35 goals between them.
The highest place partnership was Newcastle’s Shearer (25, finished first) and Ferdinand (16, finishing 5th) with an impressive 41 between them. Completing the quartet was the pair of Fabrizio Ravanelli (16) and Juninho (12) bagging 28, though Middlesbrough were relegated that season.
Best friends make the best partners!
Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke partnership blossomed from the very start. Amazingly it began in Man United’s treble winning season of 98-99. In the Premier League they hit 35 goals between them. Yorke bagged 18 and Cole netted 17.
The pair went on to continue their scoring feats in the following season as they went even better scoring 39. Yorke netting 20 and Cole bagging 19 but they weren’t the most impressive of season 99-2000.
Sunderland’s little and large combo of Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips bagged a tremendous 44 goals in their first season back in the top flight. Phillips topped the scoring charts with 30 goals while Quinn made it into the top ten with 14, Sunderland finished seventh.
In Liverpool’s cup treble winning season of 2000-01 Owen and Heskey were on form in the league notching 30 between them. This partnership also proved fruitful for England as in 2001 England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich where Owen scored a hat-trick and Heskey netted one along with Gerrard.
Foreign firepower
You will be surprised to know in season 01-02 Man Utd’s partnership of Van Nistelrooy (23, joint second) and Solskjaer (17) bagged an impressive 40 goals between them, more than Yorke and Cole. In that same season Chelsea’s Hasselbaink (23) and Gudjohnsen (14) scored 37 making it into the leagues top ten.
Season 02-03 saw the emergence of the now often used striker/ attacking midfielder duo. Even though Leeds finished 5 points above relegation, Australian duo Viduka (20) and Kewell (14) bagged an impressive 34 goals to both finish in the top ten.
That season also saw the beginning of what in the future became Arsenal’s most prolific duo. Henry (24) and Pires (14) scored 38 that season.
The following season 03-04, Arsenal’s famous “ unbeatable’s” season was again spearheaded by the French duo.
Henry (30) and Pires (14) scored 44 as Arsenal won the title, and is to date Arsenal’s most prolific strike partnership in the Premier League era.
The French pair again finished in the top ten of the scoring charts in season 04-05, with 39 between them. Henry again topped the league with 25 while Pires finished in third place notching 14. That was collectively 121 goals in 3 season from the Frenchmen, amazing.
Back to the modern day miracles
Season 05-06 allowed Man Utd fans to look at the present and the future as Van Nistelrooy (21) and Wayne Rooney (16) bagged 37 between them.
That season saw the start of a blossoming midfield / striker partnership. Drogba (12) and Lampard (16) scored 28 as Chelsea stormed to their second league title in a row.
The Chelsea pair continued their form the next season as they bagged 31 in season 06-07, with Drogba netting 20 and Lampard 11 but the best was still yet to come.
In season 07-08, Cristiano Ronaldo (31) and Carlos Tevez (14) bagged an incredible 45 goals. Which surprisingly, to date is Man Utd’s most prolific partnership of the Premier league era. That same season Tottenham duo Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane were also impressive scoring 15 each.
That season also saw the emergence of Fernando Torres (24) and Gerard’s (11) partnership as they bagged 35. The following Season 08-09, saw Gerrard (16) and Torres (14) continue their impressive double act scoring 30 together.
In season 09-10 we were treated to some impressive partnerships as Man City’s Tevez (23) and Emmanual Adebayor (14) bagged 37 goals together. Also Man Utd’s Rooney (26) and Berbatov (12) notched 38 goals.
But finally, that season was the culmination of a partnership that had been blossoming for years. Drogba (29) and Lampard (22) notched a staggering 51 goals together.
The partnership by these two 31 year old’s is to date the second best ever in the Premier league era and the best in any 38 game season as Chelsea took their third league title. This is a phenomenal record, especially by a striker and and midfielder combination, one I doubt will ever be beaten in the modern day.
