Top-10 Best Striker Partnerships

The best Premier League striker partnerships

The Premier League has luckily played host to some of the greatest talents in world football and over time, it’s put together some of the best striker partnerships ever and today SillySeason are going to look into those partnerships.

Every player’s dream is to play in England and play in the Premier League. It’s considered the best league in world football and that is why stars want to play in it.

Since it’s introduction in 1992, it’s witnessed some incredible strike partnerships, but SillySeason have picked their favourite 10 of all time.

Lets start the list at number-10!

10. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka – Chelsea

Starting the list at number-10 is Chelsea‘s deadly duo of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.

The duo were gelled together back in 2008 when Anelka arrived at Stamford Bridge from Bolton Wanderers. At the end of that campaign, The Blues won the Premier League and Drogba won the Golden Boot.

The two strikers mixed strength and power with an aerial threat as well as excellence with the ball at their feet.

Chelsea were scoring for fun back when they had Drogba and Anelka together.

9. Peter Beardsley and Andy Cole – Newcastle United

Despite only spending one season together, Peter Beardsley and Andy Cole combined superbly at St James’ Park for Newcastle United.

The deadly duo up top helped guide The Magpies to a third place finish in the Premier League, with Cole scoring 34 times throughout the campaign, and Beardsley contributing 21.

However, after just one season together, the partnership was broken when Cole left Newcastle in order to join Manchester United.

This won’t be the last time you see Cole on the top-10 list….

8. Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez – Liverpool

In modern Premier League football, it is rare to find a strike partnership because a lot of teams use lone strikers now and play 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 rather than the old conventional 4-4-2 formation.

However, during the 2013/2014 season, Brendan Rodgers‘ Liverpool played two up front and what a two it was.

Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez. The duo made up two thirds of the SAS, with Raheem Sterling finishing the trio, and their goal-scoring nature guided The Reds to a second-placed finish in the Premier League.

It was the season Liverpool should have won their first ever Premier League title, but a costly loss to Chelsea and a disastrous collapse to Crystal Palace ended their hopes.

During that campaign however, Suarez netted 31 goals, whilst Sturridge banged in 20.

Sadly for the strikers though, it wasn’t enough to win the title and Suarez left the following year in order to complete a mega-money move to FC Barcelona.

7. Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand – Newcastle United

Another Newcastle United strike partnership.

Yes back in the 90s, The Magpies were actually a force to be reckoned with and were battling Manchester United for the Premier League.

After Peter Beardsley and Andy Cole, it was Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand that helped Newcastle in the goalscoring department.

Similar to the duo before them though, Shearer and Ferdinand were only together for one season before the latter left the club. However, during that season, the two scored a combined 49 goals.

Shearer to this day is still the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer.

6. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United

I guess you could say this technically isn’t a strike partnership as Cristiano Ronaldo was mainly a winger, but we had to include them due to their incredible partnership when they were together.

During the Rooney and Ronaldo era, United were borderline unstoppable. Their pace on the counter attack was lethal and their ability to score goals from anywhere on the pitch helped them to numerous titles and trophies.

2007/2008 season was probably the best for the duo as they won the Champions League and the Premier League.

During that campaign, Ronaldo netted 31 goals for The Red Devils, winning the Golden Boot.

Sadly for United though, the partnership had to come to an end and in 2009 Ronaldo agreed a record-breaking transfer to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

5. Eidur Gudjohnson and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Another Chelsea strike partnership makes our list and coming in at number-five is Eidur Gudjohnson and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Randomly nicknamed ‘Ice and Fire’ due to their major differences on the field, the Chelsea duo somehow combined superbly together on the pitch, and during their debut season together as a strike-force, they scored 50 goals in total.

These two were massive stars as Chelsea just before and just after the Roman Abramovich takeover, but once money got involved, they were soon broken apart with the Russian wanting to stamp his own mark on Chelsea Football Club.

He’s done alright for them in all fairness…..

4. Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn – Sunderland

Not your usual talked-about strike partnership, but surprisingly Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn were unstoppable when together.

During the 1999/2000 season, the duo scored 44 goals between themselves, with Phillips scoring an impressive 30 of them on his way to the Golden Boot.

After scoring 30 goals in that season, Phillips not only secured the Premier League Golden Boot, but he also won the European Golden Boot, becoming the first Englishman to ever win the award.

Remarkably, Sunderland finished that season seventh in the Premier League, just one year after gaining promotion to the division.

Often forgot about and rarely mentioned, but Phillips and Quinn deservedly take fourth spot on our list.

3. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton – Blackburn Rovers

The original SAS!

Alan Shearer features once again on our list of all-time Premier League strike partnerships and this one comes before his days with Les Ferdinand at Newcastle United.

In 1994 Blackburn Rovers shocked the world when they won the Premier League title, their first and only one, and it was thanks to the original SAS of Shearer and Chris Sutton.

Sutton has only just arrived at Ewood Park after agreeing to leave Norwich City, but the duo struck a partnership right away and netted 49 goals between themselves during that season.

Sadly for the deadly duo though, the following season, Sutton only managed one goal and the partnership slowly faded away.

2. Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp – Arsenal

Wow. How lucky you are if you were old enough to remember these two together. Talk about flair and skill combined.

Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp during their peak days at Highbury were just unstoppable. Bergkamp‘s skill, vision and flair, combing with Henry‘s pace, power and finishing just made the duo a constant danger to opponents.

Henry and Bergkamp were together at Arsenal for six years, and during that time they won three Premier League titles, including the unbeaten season of 2003/2004, and three FA Cups.

In terms of flair and excitement to watch, undoubtedly these guys would top our list, but surprisingly there is one partnership that just eclipses them.

And we mean just.

1. Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole – Manchester United

Yes we said Andy Cole would feature again and here he is taking the number-one spot alongside Dwight Yorke.

The duo were unstoppable for Manchester United and arguably the greatest strike-force ever to embrace the Premier League.

Yorke and Cole were vital during United‘s infamous treble season of 1998/1999 and helped out by scoring 53 goals between them. They then backed that season up by contributing 37 goals the following campaign.

Astonishingly, together they contributed 94 goals in 105 appearances for Sir Alex Ferguson‘s side.

Truly the greatest Premier League strike-force ever.