Top 10 Midfield-Striker Partnerships

jonjoward1998
3 days ago
6 min read

Whenever you think of partnerships on the pitch, you immediately think of strike partnerships, midfield partnerships and centre back partnerships.

You never think of partnerships between a midfielder and striker because they're two different positions but they can still form a partnership on the pitch.

They form a partnership by the midfielder knowing where the striker is on the pitch and when he's going to make the run in behind the defence which comes from the pair having a telepathic relationship on the pitch.

Sometimes it's the other way and especially if it's between a striker and an attacking midfielder playing in the no.10 role because they play closer together, and the no.10 can go beyond the striker who can drop deep and feed the ball to the no.10 when he makes that overlapping run.

The Premier League has seen many iconic midfielder-striker duos over the years with a few of them having many goal combinations between them.

I believe that I've put the best of them in the list and speaking of the list, here it is.

Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland

Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba

Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres

David Silva and Sergio Aguero

Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy

Dele Alli and Harry Kane

Paul Scholes and Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa

Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry

Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor

Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy

Drinkwater and Vardy had a very good partnership with one another during Leicester's title winning season in 2016 as Drinkwater always knew where Vardy was on the pitch and when he was going to make that run in behind.

Drinkwater regularly played that ball over the top for Vardy to run onto throughout that title winning season because of the pace Vardy had and it became a recurring theme in how Leicester played throughout that season.

They had to be at no.10 because their partnership only lasted one season with that one season being Leicester's title winning season in 2016.

Paul Scholes and Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Scholes and Van Nistelrooy didn't have many goal involvements between them but they did still have a partnership on the pitch.

Scholes was always looking for Van Nistelrooy when he had the ball because of his incredible vision and Van Nistelrooy being Man United's best goal scorer at the time which is why he created a lot of chances for the Dutchman.

They only had 16 goals involvements between them during their time together at Man United in the Premier League and I might've had them higher had they had more.

Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa

Fabregas and Costa had a good telepathic partnership during their time together at Chelsea and especially during the blues' title winning season in 2015.

Fabregas was always looking for Costa whenever he had the ball because of Costa being their best goal scorer and whenever Costa was ready to make a run, he would feed him the ball.

Fabregas registered 18 assists during that title winning season with 6 of them being for Costa and their partnership was a big factor behind the blues' title win that season.

Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry

Vieira and Henry had a partnership for both club and country but it's their partnership at Arsenal that I'm writing about here.

There weren't many goal contributions between the pair of them because Henry was was regularly assisted by Dennis Bergkamp with whom he had more of a partnership with.

But Vieira would still look for Henry when he had the ball and especially after winning it back because Henry knew when Vieira would win the ball back and once that happened, Henry was on the move ready to receive the pass.

Their partnership played a key role in the success they both achieved at Arsenal and especially during the Invincibles season.

Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor

I've placed Fabregas' partnership with Adebayor higher than his partnership with Costa because he played with Adebayor longer.

He regularly created chances for Adebayor throughout their time together at Arsenal because of the vision he he always knew where Adebayor was on the pitch and when he was going to make a run because of his vision and the telepathic relationship he had with him.

Fabregas assisted Adebayor 15 times during their time together at Arsenal with the 2007/08 season being the season where their partnership was at it's best as Fabregas assisted Adebayor 8 times.

Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres

Gerrard and Torres had a clinical and telepathic partnership when they played together at Liverpool and especially during their early days.

Gerrard was the midfielder that played closest to Torres and he regularly created chances for him because he knew where Torres was on the pitch and when he was ready to make the run.

Liverpool were always at their best when these two played closer together because of the partnership they had which made the reds a dangerous team going forward.

Gerrard might've said that Luis Suarez was the best player he played with, but Torres was the player he had the better partnership with.

Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland

De Bruyne and Haaland formed an effective partnership and telepathic relationship the moment they first played together because of De Bruyne's creativity and vision and Haaland being an excellent goal scorer.

De Bruyne always knew where Haaland was on the pitch and when to play the ball into him which was usually straight away because his first thought was to get he ball to Haaland.

Any manager would've loved to have had these two in their team because of what De Bruyne offers in terms of creativity and Haaland in terms of scoring goals.

Their partnership during their first season together was key to City winning the treble in 2023 which was when it was at its best as De Bruyne provided 12 assists for Haaland during that season.

Dele Alli and Harry Kane

Alli and Kane had a clinical and highly effective partnership when they played together at Spurs and especially during their days in the team.

Their first 2-3 seasons together at Spurs was when their partnership was at it's best as Spurs were competing near the top of the Premier League with their partnership playing a key role in that.

Alli played behind Kane in the no.10 role which allowed them to at times switch places with one another as Alli liked to run beyond Kane and break into the box to score goals and Kane at times liked to drop deep.

But Alli was mostly the provider because of him being the no.10 and he always knew where Kane was on the pitch and when to play the ball into him.

David Silva and Sergio Aguero

Silva and Aguero had a fluid and highly effective partnership during their time together at Man City as they registered 29 goal involvements between them.

Silva always knew where Aguero was on the pitch and when to play the ball into him because of his vision and the telepathic relationship the pair had on the pitch.

The partnership they had played a key role in all four Premier League titles they won together at Man City along with all the other success they achieved.

Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba

Lampard and Drogba had to be my no.1 because they were top of the all-time goal combinations charts for many years with 36 goal combinations during their time together at Chelsea.

They both knew where each other were on the pitch because of the telepathic relationship they had and when one was ready to make the run, the other would immediately play the ball.

Lampard was mostly the provider as he was the midfielder and when he had the ball, Drogba was ready to move into the space Lampard played the ball into.

Their partnership played a key role in every success they achieved together at Chelsea and especially in the three seasons they won the Premier League in 2005, 2006 and 2010 respectively.

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