Top 4 Strikers From The Big four (EPL Era): Featuring Manchester United And Arsenal Stars

Every club has that one great striker that takes them to the next level and breaks all sorts of records for the team. We all know about the exploits of Alan Shearer for Newcastle, who could have won a lot more had he moved to one of the big four clubs during his playing career, but he loved Newcastle and stuck with them, eventually becoming one of the greats from the Premier League.

The big four also have had their fair share of great strikers during the Premier League era, we know about Wayne Rooney and his goal scoring feats, apart from the last couple of seasons that is. Fernando Torres and then Luis Suarez tore up the goal scoring charts during their team at Liverpool while Manchester United were known at one time for a fearsome partnership that they had created between Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.

We look back at probably the best striker to have come into the big four during the Premier League years and how they fared during their time at the clubs.

4. Ruud van Nistelrooy

Sir Alex Ferguson, more often than not, got his transfers right and this one was probably one of his best transfers do date. The Dutch striker came to Manchester United from PSV and in his first season at the club won the PFA Players’ Player of the year.

Van Nistelrooy had this uncanny knack of being at the right place at the right time, there was this joke about him only scoring one goal in his entire Manchester United career from outside the box but inside the penalty area, he was lethal.

Van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals for Manchester United during his five years at the club, not bad for a striker that came with a reputation of being injury prone. He did move to Real Madrid after his time at United but everyone remembers his goal scoring exploits for the Red Devils and also a bit of a swipe at Cristiano Ronaldo before leaving for Los Galacticos.

3. Robbie Fowler

While many Liverpool fans would think that the best striker they might have seen during the Premier League years was Luis Suarez or Fernando Torres, truth be told, the legend that is Robbie Fowler can never be underestimated.

Still remembered and called by most Liverpool fans as ‘God’, Fowler was a proper striker in terms of having the ability to score with both his feet and his head. The talismanic striker scored 183 goals for Liverpool in 369 games and was part of the team that won the treble in 2001.

Unfortunately for him, the rise of the partnership between Emile Heskey and Michael Owen spelled the end of his career at Liverpool as he was shuttled out to Leeds United and then Manchester City, he did also have a return to Liverpool later on in 2006 but the love between him and the Liverpool fans is as strong as ever.

2. Didier Drogba

Jose Mourinho was questioned as to why the club had spent £24 million on a footballer from Marseille and Mourinho stated that they should wait till the end of his career to know the answer and what a career it has been for Drogba.

The beast at Chelsea was one of the best in his game, strong in the air, amazing with both feet, brilliant at free-kicks; the only thing that Drogba could not do was probably run all day with the ball at his feet.

The Chelsea legend scored 164 goals in just 381 appearances for the Blues and is fondly remembered for the way he would bully defences into submission. He won four Premier League titles; four FA Cups and a Champions League, apart from many other trophies during his eight-year stay at Chelsea and then even returned for another season in 2014-15. He is currently dominating defences in the MLS and that should not be a surprise to all those who have followed him over the years.

1. Thierry Henry

“Wow!” that would be the one word many would use to describe the ability and feats of the French legend at Arsenal. Signed as a youngster by Arsene Wenger who saved Henry from his miserable time at Juventus, the winger, at that time, changed the course of history for the Gunners as he was part of a successful Arsenal team.

Henry could pretty much do stuff which no one could even dream about, not only was he gifted with amazing control and vision, he could score from almost anywhere on the pitch and had a knack for slaloming and gliding past defenders before they could even react. Henry was the top scorer for almost all the eight seasons he spent at Arsenal.

He ended up scoring 228 goals for the Gunners and even though he never won the Champions League with them, he did go to Barcelona after eight seasons with Arsenal. But his love for Arsenal brought him back on loan during his time in the USA. Henry is probably one of the greatest footballers to have graced the Premier League and certainly an Arsenal legend.