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Aniruddha Shukla explores some of the most famous striker partnerships in the Premier League over the years…..

The following are the views of the author and not necessarily of Goal.com

The Premiership has witnessed many illustrious and effective strike partnerships for so many years. Here is a look at some of them which will be remembered for years to come.

Alan Shearer – Chris Sutton (Blackburn Rovers)

Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton played a vital role in Blackburn Rovers’ 1995 Premiership triumph. Shearer scored 34 goals while Sutton hit the back of the net 15 times in a memorable campaign for the Lancashire club. The striker partnership of Sutton and Shearer was famously called ‘The SAS Partnership’ with Shearer getting goals with his lethal strikes and accurate placements and Sutton getting his with his famous glancing headers.

This Premiership partnership lasted for only a couple of seasons as Alan Shearer made his move to his hometown club Newcastle United after England’s Euro ‘96 campaign while Sutton later moved to Chelsea after Blackburn were relegated at the end of 1998-1999 season.

Dwight Yorke – Andy Cole (Manchester United)

The Yorke-Cole partnership is considered to be the most prolific strike partnership in the Premiership till date. United acquired the services of Andy Cole from Newcastle United while Yorke was signed from Aston Villa. Cole and Yorke played an important role upfront in Manchester United’s famous treble winning season. The pair contributed an impressive 53 goals between them.

However, after the 2000-01 season, the advent of Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Juan Sebastian Veron meant first team chances were limited and both later moved on. Both of them got back together at Blackburn; however they failed to repeat their feat that they had achieved with United.

Phillips-Quinn(Sunderland)

The partnership between Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn was highly rated and is considered to be one of the best in the Premiership till date. Phillips and Quinn played an important part in Sunderland’s promotion to the Premiership and were also in successful Premiership campaigns later on which saw Sunderland finish 7th three times in a row.

Gudjohnsen- Hasselbaink (Chelsea)

The Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink partnership rose to prominence in the 2001-02 season under the then Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. Hasselbaink scoring 29 goals in all competitions while Gudjohnsen complemented him with 23 goals that season.

However the deadly partnership faded away later on and Hasselbaink moved to Middlesbrough in 2004 while Gudjohnsen made his move to Barcelona in 2006.

Berbatov- Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)

Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane’s partnership was very productive for Spurs between 2006 and 2008. Berbatov was signed from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006 and he immediately established himself alongside Keane and formed an exciting strike strikeforce, which saw Spurs reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA cup that season. They scored remarkable goals in the Premiership and combined with each other superbly on several occasions. After only two seasons with Spurs, Berbatov moved to Manchester United and Keane moved to their rivals Liverpool.

Other notable strike partnerships which left their marks in the Premiership were that of Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore for Liverpool, Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp for Arsenal and Mark Viduka & Harry Kewell for Leeds United.

Season after season new pairs establish themselves and this season Defoe and Crouch seem to be doing the same for Portsmouth.

Aniruddha Shukla

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