Former Liverpool vice-captain James Milner could draw level with Gareth Barry at the top of the Premier League’s all-time appearance chart this weekend.
The 40-year-old has accrued a massive 652 matches in England’s top division since his debut in 2002, with 230 arriving with the Reds.
Milner looks certain to not only match Barry’s record when Brighton face Crystal Palace on Sunday, but surpass it in the months until the end of the season. As he prepares to sit atop a prestigious list of Premier League greats, the veteran will join three other former Liverpool players in the top 10 appearance-makers of all-time.
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9 – Jamie Carragher (508 appearances)
While Milner’s record will have arrived while playing for six different Premier League clubs, Jamie Carragher earned all of his 508 appearances at just one: Liverpool.
The Scouser played across 17 different seasons with the Reds, initially breaking through as a versatile defender before cementing himself as one of the country’s best centre-backs.
Now a pundit of some repute, Carragher’s career is occasionally played down by those who never saw him play.
But you don’t play so many times in the Premier League for Liverpool by being an also-ran, and he deserves his place among this top-ten list.
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7 – Emile Heskey (516 appearances)
Another who’s career is often underplayed, Emile Heskey nestles nicely into 7th place in the Premier League’s all-time appearance list after a stellar career spanning five different clubs.
150 of those came with Liverpool, where Heskey formed a lethal partnership with Michael Owen. having joined from Leicester City in 2000.
Although he arguably never hit the heights he reached at Anfield again, the former striker became a cult hero with Birmingham City, Wigan and Aston Villa.
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5 – David James (572 appearances)
The highest placed goalkeeper in the top-ten, David James is another former Liverpool player who made the bulk of his Premier League appearances away from the Reds.
Liverpool were James’ first top division side after he joined from Watford in 1992, and he went on to make a more than respectable 214 Premier League appearances while at Anfield.
Subsequent spells with Aston Villa, West Ham, Manchester City and Portsmouth are fresher in the memory, though, with James becoming a familiar face between the sticks throughout the 2000s.
2 – James Milner (652* appearances)
That brings us to Milner, who sits a full 20 appearances clear of Ryan Giggs in second place.
The utility man has not only been an ever-presence in the Premier League for the past 24 years, he has also won the division three times. Between them, the other three former Reds on this list cannot claim a single title win.
It is some achievement for Milner who was a stalwart of Jurgen Klopp’s time at the Liverpool and one of the biggest leaders in the modern era of the club.
Having put in two-and-a-half decades of work to sit clear at the top, it feels unlikely that anyone will ever match Milner’s newest record.
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