Premier League’s 5 greatest left-footed strikers
The Premier League’s famed 100 club currently has 32 members, but just five have been left-footers, and only three of those lefties are considered out-and-out centre-forwards.
When it comes to the Premier League’s finest strikers, high-class lefties have been rare, but we’ve opted to honor five of the best.
Here are five of the best left-footed strikers in Premier League history.
Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler leads the Premier League in left-footed goals scored, with the former Liverpool forward being the only player to have scored more than a century on his left foot.
Fowler emerged into the scene at Liverpool in the early 1990s and made an immediate impression, earning back-to-back PFA Young Player of the Year awards in 1995 and 1996.
He became the Premier League’s youngest player to reach 50 goals, and he scored 30 or more goals in all competitions in each of his first three full seasons with the Reds.
🔥🔥🔥
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 27, 2018
12 years ago today, @Robbie9Fowler rejoined #LFC.
Fowler’s top 🔟 goals… pic.twitter.com/T8jE1CAcH3
In the following seasons, Fowler’s output slowed, but he scored 17 goals as Liverpool won the UEFA Cup, FA Cup, and League Cup treble in 2000/01 before going on to Leeds.
After spells at Elland Road and Manchester City, he returned to Liverpool, where he left as the Reds’ leading scorer in the Premier League era for the second time. He is still the division’s eighth-highest scoring player.
Robin van Persie
Robin van Persie developed at Arsenal from a gifted but troublesome winger into one of the Premier League’s best centre-forwards, a footballer who combined technique and daring to produce some genuinely magnificent goals in North London.
His best season with the Gunners came in 2011/12, when he scored 30 goals and assisted 10 others in 38 league matches, claiming the Golden Boot and Footballer of the Year.
😍 @Persie_Official scored so many wonderful goals, didn’t he?!#GoalOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/bAgI4L3hFd
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 23, 2022
Van Persie left that summer for Manchester United in a contentious £24 million trade, leading the Red Devils to the Premier League title in his debut season and earning a second consecutive Golden Boot.
Van Persie scored 144 goals in 280 Premier League appearances, surpassing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Dennis Bergkamp, and Ruud van Nistelrooy as the top scoring Dutch player in the division’s history.
Interestingly, Van Persie also scored 39 goals with his weaker right foot, tying Harry Kane for the record for weaker foot goals.
Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku is having a difficult time in the Premier League right now, but the huge Belgian has been a threat to the league’s defenses.
Lukaku has 118 Premier League goals, with only Fowler and Van Persie outscoring the Chelsea attacker among left-footed players.
Lukaku began his career at Chelsea before leaving in quest of regular first-team football, scoring prolifically at West Brom and Everton before joining Manchester United for £75 million.
He scored 42 goals in 96 games for the Red Devils in all competitions, but he left for Inter Milan after two seasons and went on to have enormous success in Italian football.
Lukaku’s contribution to Inter Milan’s 2020/21 title triumph prompted Chelsea to sign the Belgium international from Serie A in a record-breaking £97.5 million move, with the 28-year-old hoping to climb the Premier League’s all-time goals list.
He is now ranked 20th, with Steven Gerrard (120) as his next target.
Daniel Sturridge
Daniel Sturridge’s greatest football was excellent, but his fitness issues hindered Premier League fans from witnessing him at his best on a continuous basis.
Sturridge scored Premier League goals for Manchester City, Chelsea, and West Brom, but his best era came following a £12 million move to Anfield.
On Merseyside, the England international forged an enthralling connection with Luis Suarez, nearly propelling Brendan Rodgers’ side to the Premier League crown in 2013/14.
A sublime chip from Daniel Sturridge 😍#GoalOfTheDay @LFC pic.twitter.com/QDxj8dlk2o
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 8, 2019
Suarez and Sturridge scored 52 league goals between them to finish first and second in the Golden Boot rankings, with the latter a forward capable of daring finishes that embarrassed Premier League goalkeepers.
Sturridge scored 50 goals in 71 league appearances for Liverpool, averaging a goal every 136 minutes throughout his six-and-a-half seasons with the club.
Olivier Giroud
Olivier Giroud scored regularly for Arsenal and Chelsea, collecting a fruitful return while frequently being pursued by a narrative that his talents were underappreciated.
Despite failing to win an automatic starting spot for much of his tenure at the two London rivals, Giroud scored 90 goals in just 152 Premier League games and has excelled on the international scene with France.
Giroud’s work rate and ability to bring others into the game helped Les Bleus win the World Cup in 2018, and he is quickly approaching Thierry Henry’s all-time goal record for the national team.
Giroud has won four FA Cups, the Champions League, and the Europa League in English football, as well as the World Cup in Russia, demonstrating his ability to impact teams at the highest level time and time again.
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Premier League’s 5 greatest left-footed strikers
