Premier League Oct 30, 2023
Gareth Barry holds the Premier League record for the most appearances with 653 games played, but which players follow him in the top 10 rankings?
Gareth Barry
_ 653 Premier League Appearances _
When Gareth Barry came on as a 49th-minute substitute for Aston Villa on 2 May 1998 against Sheffield Wednesday, little did we know that over 20 years later he would still be plying his trade as a professional footballer. Granted, the final two years of his career were played in the second tier, but by then Barry had already set the mark for most Premier League appearances at 653.
Barry’s Premier League debut may have come even earlier as he’d been named on the bench nearly a month prior against West Ham United but didn’t come on. In fact, a Barry substitute appearance was a rare occurrence. He made 618 starts during his Premier League career, enough for a healthy 94.6% start rate. Unsurprisingly, Barry holds the record for the most minutes played by a Premier League player (54,439).
653 – Gareth Barry made more Premier League appearances than any other player in the competition’s history, managing a century of games at three different clubs across his career (Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton). Tenure. pic.twitter.com/mQRW7R245P
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 27, 2020
Despite playing for the likes of Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Brom over the course of his Premier League career, Barry isn’t in the top 10 for games won. He does top the charts when it comes to games drawn (193) and games drawn nil-nil (64), however, and he’s suffered the second-most defeat (198) behind a player who we’ll come to later in this list.
A solid and dependable midfielder, who made 53 appearances for England, Barry christened his 600th appearance in the Premier League with a strike for Everton against Arsenal – the 52nd league goal of his career. One final goal would follow against Manchester United, the side he lost more to (24 times) than any other during his Premier League career before an injury derailed his 2017-18 season, ending in West Brom’s relegation to the Championship.
Ryan Giggs
_ 632 Premier League Appearances _
Ryan Giggs made his league bow for Manchester United the season before the Premier League’s inaugural campaign, so it’s no surprise the winger ranks highly when it comes to overall appearances in the history of the competition. It’s even less surprising that Giggs has more assists (162) than anyone else, some 51 clear of his nearest rival, Cesc Fábregas.
Despite scoring 109 goals during his Premier League career, Giggs never netted a hat-trick in his 632 appearances even though he did manage 11 braces. He only needed five appearances to net his first goal in the competition but failed to find the back of the net in his last 20 in the Premier League.
Having won 13 Premier League titles with Manchester United during his career, Giggs has comfortably won more games than any other player in Premier League history (407), and when you look at that in the context of United’s victories total (726 – correct as of July 2023) in the competition, it means the Welshman played in 56% of their triumphs.
Of the players in this article, it’s Giggs who has been subbed off the most (134), with Theo Walcott (168), Aaron Lennon (141) and David Silva (137) the only ones to have seen their number raised more often. It means Giggs only ranks fourth when it comes to minutes played (46,437).
James Milner
_ 625 Premier League Appearances _
James Milner is the only active player to rank in the top 10 for most Premier League appearances. A former teammate of Frank Lampard’s at Man City, Milner overtook his old colleague in April 2023 with an 11-minute cameo in Liverpool’s 0-0 draw against Chelsea.
145 – James Milner and Harvey Elliott are a starting Premier League match for Liverpool alongside one another for the first time. Milner made his Premier League debut in November 2002, 145 days before Elliott was born. Longevity.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 17, 2022
If you think of some of the iconic Premier League moments since November 2002, there’s a good chance Milner has been a part of them. He was part of the Leeds United team that suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal to start the downward spiral that saw them relegated from the top flight. And after spells with Newcastle United and Aston Villa, he was part of the Manchester City side that won the title in dramatic “AGUERROoOoOoOoO!!!” fashion before winding up as part of Jürgen Klopp’s revolution at Anfield.
Uniquely, Milner has been substituted on the most times in Premier League history (202), ahead of the likes of Peter Crouch and Shane Long (both 158), Jermaine Defoe (149) and Shola Ameobi (142). As you might have expected, the 24 instances of Milner coming on from the bench in the 2022-23 season was the most of his career as age began to limit his involvement a little more. Nevertheless, he showed enough to earn a free transfer to Brighton for the 2023-24 campaign, meaning Milner could break Barry’s all-time appearances record in the next 12 months.
With his appearance on the opening day of the 2023-24 campaign versus Luton Town, Milner equalled Ryan Giggs’ record of playing a game in 22 different Premier League seasons.
Frank Lampard
_ 609 Premier League Appearances _
Frank Lampard came closest to matching Giggs’ record for the most wins in the Premier League (349), the first of which coming on his debut on 31 January 1996 as he made an 80th-minute substitute appearance against Coventry City for West Ham.
A broken leg in the 1996-97 season delayed his breakthrough, but he returned in emphatic fashion the following campaign, scoring on the opening day of the season barely a minute after coming on as a substitute against Barnsley. It would be the first of 177 goals Lampard scored in the Premier League for West Ham United, Chelsea and Manchester City, including one in his final appearance against Southampton on the last day of 2014-15. A strike earlier in the season against former club Chelsea also produced possibly the greatest ‘muted’ goal celebration in Premier League history.
David James
_ 572 Premier League Appearances _
Being the highest-ranked goalkeeper on this list might go some way to reducing the disappointment of not being the keeper with the most clean sheets in Premier League history; only Petr Cech (202) is ahead of David James (169).
James’ first Premier League appearance, his debut for Liverpool, came on the opening weekend of the inaugural season following his transfer from Watford, starting against Nottingham Forest in the first ever Super Sunday match shown on Sky Sports. Unfortunately, this also makes him the first goalkeeper to concede a goal in a live televised Premier League match, with Teddy Sheringham putting the only goal of the game past him. This was the first of 665 goals he would concede in the Premier League for the Reds, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Manchester City and Portsmouth which is also a record for the competition.
For a while, James held the record for the most appearances in the Premier League before being overtaken by the four players above. He also achieved the unusual feat of appearing in the competition as both a goalkeeper and an outfield player, having been thrown up front by Stuart Pearce as Manchester City chased down potential European qualification on the final day of the 2004-05 season. They fell short following a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough with James unable to make an impact, even though he did concede two fouls in a Premier League game for the only time in his career.
Gary Speed
_ 535 Premier League Appearances _
James beat the record previously held by the late Gary Speed, for whom goals were plenty during his career but they probably came no sweeter than on 20 November 1996. A boyhood Everton fan, his dream of playing for the club was realised when he moved to Goodison Park at the start of that season, before scoring the equaliser in the Merseyside derby in front of the Kop. The only hat-trick of his Premier League career also came while wearing his beloved blue in a 7-1 mauling of Southampton.
But to talk about goals misses so much of what makes Speed a player still remembered fondly by many fans and former teammates from Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers. A life gone far too soon following his death at the age of 42.
Emile Heskey
_ **516 Premier League Appearances **_
The first out-and-out forward on the list, Emile Heskey might be seventh when it comes to number of appearances in the Premier League but his haul of 110 is ‘only’ good enough for 26th on the list of all-time goalscorers.
But where the former Leicester City, Liverpool, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa star proved his worth was by being one of the most unselfish players on the field. Making decoy runs, holding up the ball for others and providing a fair share of assists (53) ensured he won a place in the hearts of fans and teammates alike.
100 – Sadio Mané has now scored 100 goals in the Premier League, and in the meantime become only the third player to reach 100+ Premier League goals without any of them being penalties, after Les Ferdinand (149) and Emile Heskey (110). Earned. pic.twitter.com/NDtbqStQdZ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 16, 2021
None more so than Michael Owen, who saw his golden years – culminating in the 2001 Ballon d’Or – heavily supported by his Liverpool (and England) teammate Heskey, with the pair scoring 30 Premier League goals between them during the 2000-2001 season, as well as combining as part of England’s famous 5-1 triumph over Germany when, yes, even Heskey scored.
Mark Schwarzer
_ 514 Premier League Appearances ** **_
Remember how we mentioned earlier in this article that one player in the Premier League had lost more games than Gareth Barry? Well, step right up Mark Schwarzer – it’s time for your moment to shine. The Australian is the only player, so far, in the history of the Premier League to have racked up 200 defeats. With 145 draws to his name as well (54 of which were 0-0), it means Schwarzer left a Premier League stadium without winning 67.1% of the time.
2 – Emiliano Martínez is the third goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in their first two Premier League appearances against a club they’ve previously appeared for in the competition after Shaka Hislop vs Newcastle (1998-99) and Mark Schwarzer vs Middlesbrough (2008-09). Missed. pic.twitter.com/EPUyNFcUwu
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 6, 2021
All bar ten of his appearances came for Middlesbrough and Fulham as he became the first – and so far, only – non-British player to make over 500 appearances in the Premier League. He was part of two title-winning squads in back-to-back seasons (Chelsea and Leicester City), but he didn’t play enough games to qualify automatically for a medal.
Jamie Carragher
_ 508 Premier League Appearances ** **_
Liverpool’s all-time leading appearance maker in the Premier League, Jamie Carragher made his debut for the club when Roy Evans was in charge at Anfield, before being part of their success under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benítez. Although the Premier League title eluded him, Carragher’s mantlepiece is loaded with a UEFA Champions League winner’s medal, as well as three FA Cup triumphs.
Famously, Carragher only scored three EPL goals for Liverpool during his career but did manage to turn the ball into the back of his own net on seven occasions – joint second-most in the competition’s history. You can read more about Carragher’s own-goal exploits here, as well as finding out who the overall record holder is (a clue: he played 431 times in the Premier League).
Phil Neville
_ 505 Premier League Appearances _
In a game of Top Trumps between the Neville brothers, this would be one section where Phil comfortably comes out on top having made 105 more appearances in the Premier League than Gary Neville. He also has the advantage when it comes to goals (Phil’s 9 to Gary’s 5, what a way to make a living), although assists do fall in Gary’s favour (35 to 25), as well as Premier League winner’s medals (8 to 6).
Phil’s transfer to Everton ahead of the 2005-06 season led to many highlights, with the brothers refusing to engage with each other in the tunnel when both captaining their sides in the 4-4 draw at Old Trafford in 2012 that proved pivotal in the deciding the title-race.
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