Premier League Best Striking  Partnership

By Busari Isa Olalekan (@noting2live4)

After Manchester United confirmed
they have reached agreement with
Arsenal for the transfer of Robin
Van Persie to Old Trafford, Sir Alex
Ferguson may have just
formulated the greatest strike
partnership the Premier League
has ever seen.
If the return of last season's top two
scorers is anything to go by - Van Persie claimed the Golden Boot with 30 goals in 2011/12, while Wayne Rooney netted a career best 27 league strikes - then the Red Devils will pose an attacking threat unrivaled by any other club in
the country.

Manchester City's short dynasty of
success could already be drawing to a
close, if the two players combine and
work as spectacularly well as is
anticipated.

Over the years, there have been some truly brilliant combinations, with United alone boasting some of the most feared forward partnerships in the English top-flight.

£24million is a lot of money to pay for a player who is approaching his 30th birthday, and that's before you even consider the Dutchman's horrific injury record. But, the combination of two players at the peak of their powers
really does wet the appetite for the
forthcoming campaign.

In tribute to the new-look Rooney and Van Persie coalition, we
attempts to identify the Premier
League's best from the rest...

2.     Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton |
Blackburn Rovers [1994-95]:

In 1993/94, Blackburn finished as
Premier League runners-up behind
Manchester United with an impressive
tally of 84 points, but having scored
just 63 goals in what was then a 42
game season. Alan Shearer netted nearly half of those goals (31), and needed someone to share the burden, prompting the £5million arrival of Chris Sutton who had amassed 25 goals for Norwich City that year. The pair linked up superbly scoring 49
times as Blackburn beat United to the
title by a solitary point, and it remains
the Ewood Park club's only top-flight
title in its current format

                    

3.  Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole |
Manchester United [1998-99]:

Widely regarded as one of the most
prolific strike partnerships in the
Premier League, the pairing of
Newcastle United's Andy Cole and
Aston Villa's Dwight Yorke looked to be
a match made in heaven for Sir Alex
Ferguson. The duo played an important role in Manchester United's famous treble winning campaign, contributing 53 goals between them. But, after the
emergence of Ruud van Nistelrooy,
their playing time became limited.
Yorke and Cole were reunited during a
brief spell at Blackburn, but failed to
rediscover their best form.

4.     Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn |
Sunderland [1999-2000]:

In many ways, this Sunderland duo
were one of the most unlikely prolific
partnerships. Just a few years prior to
the Black Cats' maiden Premier League
campaign, Kevin Phillips was playing in
a struggling Watford side in the old
Division Two, while Niall Quinn was
entering the twilight of his career at the age of 33.
The classic 'big man - little man'
combination thrived off each other, with Phillips claiming the European Golden Boot after a return of 30 league goals -his greatest ever season as a
professional. Quinn also notched 14
times, which was his second highest
top-flight tally during a 19-year career.

5.  Michael Owen and Emile Heskey |
Liverpool [2000-2003]:

After Gerard Houllier paid Leicester City £11million to bring Emile Heskey to Anfield, big things were expected of the 'little and large' partnership with Kop idol Michael Owen. In the three seasons they spent together, Liverpool qualified for Europe every year, winning the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup, managing to score 105 goals together. The relationship was also utilised at international level, with Heskey and Owen seen as England's first-choice striker pairing for a number of years.

6.  Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | Chelsea [2001-02]:

When Chelsea first signed Fernando
Torres from Liverpool, Blues fans will
have hoped that the £50million man
would strike up a deadly relationship
with Didier Drogba to at least rival that
of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd
Hasselbaink. That partnership rose to prominence under Claudio Ranieri, with the Icelandic and the Dutchman scoring 52 goals in all competitions in 2001-02. Unfortunately, their prolificacy faded thereafter, with both players leaving Stamford Bridge - Hasselbaink headed

for Middlesbrough in 2004 while Gudjohnsen moved to Barcelona two
years later.

7. Thierry Henry and Dennis
Bergkamp | Arsenal [2000-2006]:

Two of Arsenal's most celebrated
strikers played alongside each other for six seasons under Arsene Wenger,
notching more than 200 Premier
League goals between them.
What Dennis Bergkamp started, Thierry Henry finished - it was that simple for the Gunners, who celebrated a league and cup double with the forwards at front, as well as playing their part in the 'Invincibles' campaign of 2003/04. Bergkamp retired in 2006, bringing to
an end their prolific partnership, with
Henry swapping north London for Spain with a big-money move to Barcelona a year later