The best every PL pairings, featuring Newcastle, Man United, Arsenal and Blackburn stars.
Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge bagged his 20th league goal this season against Sunderland on Tuesday, making him and Luis Suarez the first Reds strikers to both reach the milestone in 50 years.
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The pair have been hailed as one of the best ever Premier League strike partnerships…we rank the top five:
5. ANDY COLE AND PETER BEARDSLEY (Newcastle United; 1993-1995)
After gaining promotion in 1993, Newcastle stormed to a third-place finish in their first season back in the elite thanks largely to the goals of Cole and Beardsley. The pair proved ideal foils for each other, with 32-year-old schemer Beardsley helping lithe 21-year-old Cole plunder 34 goals and also finding the net 21 times himself. Their combined tally of 55 goals, scored over a 42-game campaign, remains a Premier League record but is under-threat from Sturridge and Suarez, who boast 48 league goals between them with six matches left to play. The duo failed to hit quite the same heights the following season, before Cole was sold to Manchester United in the summer of 1995.
4. ALAN SHEARER AND CHRIS SUTTON (Blackburn Rovers; 1994-1996)
Before Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour there was Jack Walker. Bankrolled by the local businessman, Blackburn broke the British transfer record twice to assemble a strike pairing that fired the club to the Premier League title in 1995. Shearer cost £3.3m from Southampton in 1992 and Walker shelled out £5m to bring Sutton to the club from Norwich City two years later. Nicknamed ‘SAS’ – an acronym which has since been stolen by fans of Suarez and Sturridge – the English duo instantly hit it off, with Shearer scoring 34 goals and Sutton chipping in with 15 as Blackburn claimed a first league crown since 1914. It remains to be seen whether Liverpool’s ‘SAS’ can do the something similar this season.
3. LUIS SUAREZ AND DANIEL STURRIDGE (Liverpool; 2013-present)
The new ‘SAS’. Sturridge’s signing from Chelsea in January 2013 was seen as something of a gamble, with the Englishman untested as a central striker at both Man City and Stamford Bridge. But he proved an immediate hit at Anfield, scoring 10 goals in his first 14 league games. Suarez’s 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season initially prevented the duo from playing together, but this term they have joined forces to sensational effect. With 28 goals to his name, Suarez is closing in on the Premier League record for a season of 34, jointly held by Shearer and Cole, while Sturridge reached 20 against Sunderland. This ridiculous stat underlines just how good they’ve been this season:
2. DWIGHT YORKE AND ANDY COLE (Manchester United; 1998-2001)
Cole’s days at Old Trafford looked to be numbered after United paid Aston Villa £12.6m to secure Yorke’s services in 1998, but instead the pair struck up an extraordinary understanding. In their very first season they shared 35 league goals as United claimed a treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, and the following season they amassed 39 goals in a successful title defence. Their intuitive understanding was best demonstrated by a famous goal against Barcelona in November 1998, with Yorke dummying a ball from Roy Keane and then exchanging passes with Cole, who beat goalkeeper Ruud Hesp with an assured finish. The pair would later link up again at Blackburn, although with far less success.
1. THIERRY HENRY AND DENNIS BERGKAMP (Arsenal; 1999-2006)
A classic partnership, elegant number 10 Bergkamp and world class striker Henry linked up under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and inspired the club to a flurry of trophies. Bergkamp was never prolific but the Dutchman’s vision and ability to weigh a pass made him a perfect partner for the jet-heeled Henry, who became the club’s all-time leading scorer. They scored a combined total of 200 league goals during their time together in north London, notably inspiring Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ to an unbeaten title-winning season in 2003-04.