The 10 Best Strike Partnerships in Premier League History

Much like Premier League sticker albums and Pro Evolution Soccer, strike partnerships are the hallmark of a forgotten era for English football fans.

Image via Complex UK / Arsenal

Much like Premier League sticker albums and Pro Evolution Soccer, strike partnerships are the hallmark of a forgotten era for English football fans.

We now live in a world where Lionel Messi is the ultimate 'false 9' and the planet's greatest goalscorer – Cristiano Ronaldo (sorry, Harry Kane) – plays on the left wing. Even the usually archaic England football team seems content with playing Danny Welbeck up front on his own and Wayne Rooney in central midfield. 

Pep Guardiola's Barcelona side pretty much changed the game and 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formations have taken over world football. We still believe in 4-4-2. Here's the 10 best strike partnerships in Premier League history.

10. Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

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Club: Chelsea

Season: 2001/2002

Combined goals: 37

Before Roman Abramovich's billions came flowing into Stamford Bridge, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink did their best to fire Chelsea into the Champions League – scoring 37 goals in 2001/02. Nicknamed 'Fire and Ice', the duo brought power and elegance to Chelsea's frontline.

Hasselbaink remains one of Chelsea's best buys in the Premier League and it's arguable that only Didier Drogba – and now Diego Costa – have challenged his contributions to Chelsea's strikeforce since the Dutchman left the club in 2004. Gudjohnsen was rated so highly that he eventually moved to Barcelona.

9. Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn

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Club: Sunderland

Season: 1999/2000

Combined goals: 44

The Sunderland team of 1999/2000 made arguably the biggest impact of any newly promoted team to the Premier League in their first season. Together, Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips became an excellent 'little and large' strikeforce that saw the Irishman's height and power as a perfect foil for Phillips.

Kevin Phillips scored 30 goals in the Premier League that year, becoming the first – and only Englishman – to have won the European golden boot.

8. Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore

Club: Liverpool
Season: 1995/96
Combined goals: 42

Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore represented a bright future for English football in the mid-90s. The Liverpool duo were one of the most exciting tag teams that the Premier League had ever seen, ousting Merseyside legend Ian Rush to the bench.

Collymore turned provider for most of 1995/96 season, but is famous for scoring the winning goal in the game that's considered the greatest in English football's modern history – Liverpool's 4-3 win over Newcastle.

7. Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley

6. Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand

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Club: Newcastle United

Season: 1996/97

Combined goals: 41

Three years after Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley had dominated the Premier League, the Toon Army were blessed with another all-English frontline that scored goals for days: Les Ferdinand and world record signing, Alan Shearer. Though the duo only played together for one season, they struck up an instant understanding and found the back of the net 49 times in all competitions.

Ferdinand was moved on to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 1997, just months after Kevin Keegan resigned as manager. The sale of 'Sir Les' marked the end of Newcastle's time as a Premier League force – they finished 13th, escaping relegation by just four points, in their first season without him.

5. Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie

Club: Manchester United
Season: 2012/13
Combined goals: 38

Robin van Persie became public enemy number one in North London when he switched Arsenal for Manchester United in 2012, but it was worth the controversy for Sir Alex Ferguson – the Dutchman scored the goals that won Manchester United the Premier League title in Fergie's final season.

The arrival of RVP signalled Wayne Rooney's gradual decline into a deeper role, which may not look so great under Louis Van Gaal, but proved to be a tactical masterstroke under Ferguson. Rooney became Paul Scholes 2.0, scoring important goals and spraying magical passes into van Persie – remember THAT goal against Aston Villa?

4. Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez

Club: Liverpool
Season: 2013/14
Combined goals: 52

For a few months in 2014, it seemed English football had turned the clock back thirty years – Manchester United were struggling in mid table, Liverpool were pushing for the league title and, most shockingly, a strike partnership was changing the face of the Premier League. Together, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge are finest front two the top flight has seen in the past decade, even defying the 'little and large' strike partnerships that had previously defined some of English football's most famous front lines.

The 52 goals they scored as a pair set a new record for number of goals scored in a 38-game Premier League season, while Luis Suarez was so good that he almost made us forget about the actions that made him the most hated man in English football. Unfortunately for Liverpool – and Daniel Sturridge in particular – Suarez moved to Barcelona in summer 2014.

3. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton

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Club: Blackburn Rovers

Season: 1994/95

Combined goals: 49

While Alan Shearer was the breakout star of the Premier League's original SAS, it was Chris Sutton's arrival at Blackburn in the summer of 1994 that propelled Rovers to the Premier League title. Blackburn finished fourth and second in Shearer's first two seasons with the club, but once he was teamed with the unselfish Sutton, he became simple unstoppable – scoring 34 goals and setting a record for the most goals scored in a 42 game season.

Shearer would move to Newcastle for a world record £15 million fee in the summer of 1996 – and go on to be the Premier League's all-time record goal scorer with 260 strikes – while Sutton would suffer relegation with Blackburn in 1999.

2. Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp

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Club: Arsenal

Season: 2001/2002

Combined goals: 33

This is the most beautiful of Premier League strikeforces. More than just a pair of calculated goal getters, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp formed a poetic partnership that defined Arsene Wenger's brand of liquid football in the mid-00s.

The duo picked up multiple FA Cups and Premier League titles together but were at their most dominant in the double winning season of 2001/02, with Henry cruising to the golden boot with 24 goals. Bergkamp was often the provider and Henry the finisher, but that doesn't mean they weren't on an equal footing.

1. Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole

Club: Manchester United

Season: 1998/99

Combined goals: 35

Ask any Manchester United fan why they won an unprecdented treble in 1999 and their answer will probably be the same: Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. Sir Alex Ferguson brought Yorke to Old Trafford from Aston Villa at the start of the 1998/99 season and he immediately connected with Cole on and off the pitch.

They scored 35 league goals between them in 1998/99 but arguably their most famous goal as a front pair came against Barcelona in the Nou Camp. It's a goal that demonstrated every iota of the telepathic understanding the duo somehow seemed to have. Watching Man United had never (begrudgingly) been so fun.

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