Ever since the football transitioned into having three attacking players at the top, there have been a host of players who have taken their game to the next level in the Premier League. The “front 3” as we call them are integral to every attack for a team, including build-ups, switch of play and final delivery. So, who are the greatest attacking trios in Premier League history?
BestofBets takes a look at some of them as we rank the 5 greatest attacking trios in Premier League history!
Greatest attacking trios in Premier League history
5. Arjen Robben, Damien Duff and Didier Drogba (Chelsea):
When Jose Mourinho started a revolution at Chelsea in the mid 2000s, he chose an incredible mixture of pace, skill and strength as part of his three attacking players at Stamford Bridge.
Arjen Robben contributed immensely to the pace and skill aspect whereas Damien Duff and Didier Drogba were excellent with their sheer power and attacking mentality.
However, due to injury issues with Robben and Duff, fans would have wanted to see more of this trio. But, the reason this trio makes the top five is that they went unbeaten in the 27 games they featured together, winning 25 of them.
4. Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero (Manchester City):
Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in 2016 and changed the footballing landscape in the Premier League by enabling his team to play beautiful football.
Part of his front three was an extremely talented trio of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero. They also had a backup trio which was extremely talented too in Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez and Bernando Silva.
Anyway, Sterling, Aguero and Sane propelled Manchester City to the next level in their Premier League dominance, going on to score 100 points in the 2017-18 season, winning numerous titles.
3. Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry (Arsenal):
We know many Arsenal fans will be agitated seeing this otherwordly trio at number three in our list. There are reasons to it in terms of formation as well as achievements when it comes to continental success.
Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry are three greatest players in Arsenal history.
When these three legends were playing together, Arsenal’s formation was always 4-4-2 which meant Pires would take up the left side of midfield instead of being an out-and-out member of the front three. Henry played as a left-striker whereas Bergkamp played as a right-striker.
This trio propelled Arsenal to two Premier League titles and an FA Cup and were part of the legendary “Invincibles” team of 2003-04.
The trio featured in 128 Premier League games together in which they scored a combined 272 goals
2. Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane (Liverpool):
There is good reason for Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane to be ahead of the legendary Arsenal trio above, and the reason is continental success including winning the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp converted wingers Salah and Mane into inside forwards when he started his Gegenpressing era at Liverpool.
These three players came up with some of the greatest attacking moments witnessed by fans in the club’s history, which translated into titles, as they won a Champions League in 2018-19, the Premier League in 2019-20, continental titles like the Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2019. They also won the FA Cup and the English League Cup in 2022.
1. Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez (Manchester United):
This might sound like an overstatement to lifelong Manchester United fans, but Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez can be classed as the club’s modern day holy trinity, an embodiment of greats – Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best.
The 2007-08 season especially saw this English-Portuguese-Argentine trio peak as they scored 79 goals and 30 assists between them in all competitions. They won the Premier League and the Champions League that season and Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or.
The reason they stand number one is that they almost repeated the same feat in the 2008-09 season, reaching the Champions League final, winning the Premier League, FIFA Club World Cup and the League Cup.
Carlos Tevez, who completed his two-year loan at United, fell out with legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson over a permanent contract and left the club for arch-rivals Manchester City in 2009.
Whereas Cristiano Ronaldo achieved his lifelong dream transfer to Real Madrid in a world record deal at that time.
Wayne Rooney stayed on at the club and went on to become their greatest ever goalscorer and without doubt, a bigger legend than any other player in Manchester United’s Premier League era!
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