Who are the Premier League’s best-ever players by position?
Published:
Who came out on top of our polls?
We asked you to help us decide the best goalkeeper, defender,midfielder and striker of the Premier League era over the Bank Holiday weekend.
We picked a shortlist of four for each position, outlinedeach player’s claim, then put it to a vote on Twitter.
Now the final whistle has blown and the results are in…
Goalkeeper
Vote for your top keeper here
— Coral (@Coral) April 10, 2020
With almost half of the vote, Peter Schmeichel is the clearwinner between the posts. That’s no real surprise, given his importance toUnited’s success in the 90’s.
Second-placed Edwin van der Sar first arrived on theseshores for Fulham, before becoming arguably the first goalkeeper to adequatelyfill Schmeichel’s gloves for Manchester United.
Petr Cech may feel hard done by in third, having kept arecord 202 top-flight clean sheets for Arsenal and Chelsea. Gunners legendDavid Seaman is a distant fourth.
Defender
Vote here
— Coral (@Coral) April 11, 2020
In the tightest of the four polls, John Terry just edgedahead of his former England defensive partner Rio Ferdinand.
Either would have been a worthy winner, with formerManchester City captain Vincent Kompany taking third.
Despite over a decade of consistent excellence, there waslittle love for Ashley Cole. He received just only 10% of the vote.
It seems that when people think of the greatest defenders,they think of centre-backs rather than full-backs.
Midfielder
Cast your votes here
— Coral (@Coral) April 12, 2020
Despite being the only midfielder on our shortlist who neveractually lifted the title, Steven Gerrard came out on top of our poll.
It wasn’t particularly close either, with the formerLiverpool captain picking up almost 40% of the total votes. Even though he hasn’tgot a winner’s medal, his influence on the Liverpool side earned admirersaround the world.
There wasn’t much between Frank Lampard and Roy Keane inthird. While both operating in central midfield, they interpreted the role verydifferently. Lampard’s goals helped to fire Chelsea to three titles, while Keane’scombative approach set the standards for United for years.
David Silva’s guile doesn’t appear to have convinced voters, as he finished well behind the other three contenders.
Striker
Vote here
— Coral (@Coral) April 13, 2020
Thierry Henry doesn’t have the most goals or the most titlesamong our striker shortlist, but few would argue he had the most style.
Whether you were a fan of Arsenal or not, there weren’t manymore thrilling sights in football than the Frenchman in full flight.
Alan Shearer is a well-deserved runner-up with a record 260 goals. It’s hard to see anyone beating that tally anytime soon.
Sergio Aguero nips in ahead of Wayne Rooney in third, though there was very little to choose between the duo. Aguero netted arguably the Premier League’s most iconic goal to seal City’s first title, while Rooney scored several of the best goals in the competition’s history.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
