How do the current crop compare with Liverpool’s best strikers of the Premier League era?

Liverpool’s 28 goals in the first 12 games of the season were enough to put them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table. We all know there’s a whole lot of football still to be played this year, but if The Reds do manage to hold on to that lead till the end of the season, it will be the first time they have done so in the Premier League era.



Plenty of the credit will undoubtedly go to Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, and the latter, in particular, is already being associated with that dreaded GOAT acronym. These voices will get louder if he manages to become only the third footballer to win three Premier League Golden Boot awards. He’s currently 7/1 to do so, odds that seem strangely long given the way the season has gone, but that is a peculiarity of how betting works, particularly in the Premier League. 


Of course, Salah and Mané are not the only Liverpool players to top the scoring charts in the Premier League era. So how do they really compare with some of the greats from across the years?


Ian Rush


If we were considering all-time greats, it could be that nobody would touch Rush. 346 goals across all competitions is an awesome achievement. But by the time the Premier League came along, Rush was already in his 30s, and his most glorious achievements were in the past. Still, 45 goals in 130 Premier League appearances between 1992 and 1996 proved that he was still very much the go-to man for Liverpool in the early 1990s, and cemented his place as a legend of the team.


Michael Owen


When Rush moved on to Leeds United in 1996 it was a daunting pair of boots to fill. Michael Owen brought a new style of football to the game and could not have been more different from Rush. However, there was one important similarity, and that was the Wonder Boy’s ability to find the back of the net. He scooped the Golden Boot in his first full season, and repeated the feat the following year, the first to do so since Alan Shearer’s domination in the early 90s. Even today, Owen is in the top ten goal scorers in league history, and the vast majority of those were scored in a Liverpool shirt.


Robbie Fowler


Fowler appeared on the scene alongside elder statesman Ian Rush in 1993, and became synonymous among the Anfield faithful with the Premier League era. With 65 goals in his first three seasons, greatness seemed assured, but injuries dogged his progress. Still, despite that and even taking into account his five year absence at Leeds and Manchester City, Fowler accumulated an incredible 128 goals across his two spells at Liverpool. 


And the rest


The above three examples show how difficult it is to define an all-time great. And that’s before we even think about adding the likes of Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres or Roberto Firmino to the list. One thing is certain, Salah and Mané have already ensured their names will be justly mentioned alongside these giants of their respective eras.