Jamie Carragher picks his top 10 greatest Premier League forwards ever alongside Thierry Henry on MNF, with Erling Haaland and Harry Kane among shock omissions
Jamie Carragher has angered football fans across the country by picking his ten best Premier League strikers as he presented Monday Night Football with Thierry Henry.
The pair joined forces to analyze West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth, which was illuminated by two late goals.
Earlier, Henry won praise from viewers for picking out a subtle detail from Amad Diallo’s strike for Manchester United against Man City on Sunday, noting that the Ivorian had not even looked at the ball as it came over his head.
And the former Arsenal star received more praise, this time for his playing career, as he was crowned the best striker in Premier League history by Carragher. Air sports show.
It turns out the public agrees, with 31 percent of nearly 50,000 voters choosing Henry as their choice for the honor, leaving the likes of Alan Shearer (18 percent) and Mohamed Salah (14 percent) far behind.
However, Carragher deviated from the views of the watching public at almost every turn, barring top man Henry, who scored 228 goals in 377 appearances for the Gunners while winning two Premier League titles and an FA Cup.
Jamie Carragher (L) spoke on Monday Night Football alongside Thierry Henry (R)
Thierry Henry, who was also a pundit tonight, won both Carragher’s election and the public vote
Salah came second ahead of Carragher, who explained why he chose him over Cristiano Ronaldo
The former Liverpool captain labeled some selections as ‘recency bias’.
The entertaining process caused controversy from the start after Carragher compiled a shortlist for the award, with each player judged on their best three seasons in the competition.
This list included Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dennis Bergkamp, Didier Drogba, Eden Hazard, Eric Cantona, Gareth Bale, Harry Kane, Luis Suarez, Salah, Sergio Aguero, Henry and Wayne Rooney.
Erling Haaland was a notable early exception, as was Robin van Persie, and when Carragher picked his top 10, former Spurs star Kane became the final snub.
When assessing the strikers, the pundit said he valued ‘the impact players have had in the Premier League’.
He added: ‘Others we thought: are they going to be in the top three or four? There are great goalscorers, no 10s and wide forwards, which we are seeing more in the game now.”
Former PFA Player of the Year and Spurs icon Bale took tenth place before Henry’s teammate Bergkamp finished ninth and Premier League-winning winger Hazard was eighth.
Then came a shock when Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, finished in seventh place despite finding the net an impressive 260 times in the competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo narrowly missed Salah and had to settle for third place
Eric Cantona was praised for his impact on the league and Henry even ‘thanked’ him
Didier Drogba was praised for his goals in big games and secured fifth place
Rooney, who won the draw, had to settle for sixth at United, with Carragher suggesting he was ‘best up front, on the right against the centre-backs’ and suffered after being pushed back.
Drogba finished in fifth place, with particular emphasis placed on his goals in big matches, including the Champions League final, and the pundit said:
‘I see him winning his team trophies in decisive moments, including a Champions League final. No one did better than him in the biggest moments.”
United’s Cantona was in fourth place, while Carragher said: ‘He was the biggest star in the Premier League.
‘You think about him and Shearer in the beginning, he was the best and most talked about player in the Premier League.
“He’s in and they win four of the next five titles, and the only one he doesn’t win is when he’s suspended.”
Henry described thanking his compatriot for the impact he had on French football and showing people like him that it was ‘possible’ to be a success abroad.
The world’s all-time top scorer Ronaldo finished in third place and Henry heaped praise on the United icon, saying: ‘His body is even better than when he was younger, the amount of work he puts in, he proved the sky is the limit was.’
Salah secured second place as he continues to show his value to Liverpool despite his future at the club being in doubt as his contract expires this summer.
Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football selected their best Premier League striker
There was no room for City’s Erling Haaland, mainly due to his short spell in the league
Harry Kane, meanwhile, missed out on former Spurs man Gareth Bale’s top 10
Carragher said: ‘Salah’s record was better than Ronaldo’s, but Ronaldo came as a young child. Salah gets 40 in his first season, but he is more mature.
‘Salah didn’t reach Ballon d’Or level, but Man United were a team you think would win the league, but Salah joined Liverpool, who hadn’t won the league for 30 years and that’s just something else.
‘His goal and assist record is also a lot better.’
And in a rather inevitable moment, Henry took first place in the competition, a worthy recognition for his role with the Invincibles and the flair he brought to the competition.