Records and milestones of the English Premier League that may prospectively fall. Is Čech’s unique feat in jeopardy?

The English top-flight football competition dates its modern history back to 1992. In that thirty-plus year period, significant and impressive records have been set and are written in bold letters in the history of the world’s most watched sporting league. As it happens, however, time always brings challengers who could eventually rewrite the statistical tables.

Former England international Gareth Barry still reigns supreme with a respectable 652 games played. The other two medal positions are occupied by other well-known names, with Ryan Giggs in silver (632) and Frank Lampard in bronze (609).

But the only active player in the top 10, the legendary James Milner of Liverpool (604), who just recently broke the magic six-hundred mark, is also on the “podium”. However, it remains to be seen if the 37-year-old Milner will overtake even his former teammate Barry.

Among the top scorers, Alan Shearer’s now notorious record of 260 goals is a canon. Wayne Rooney (208) is in second place by a considerable margin and the third hundred is already starting to be counted by the still playing Harry Kane (200) from Tottenham. Given that Kane is still only 29 years old, assuming he stays in the league and is injury free, he could well break Shearer’s record.

Even for assists, we’re talking about a pretty sovereign record from today’s perspective. Welshman Ryan Giggs has 162. Cesc Fabregas is second (111), Wayne Rooney is third (103) and Frank Lampard is fourth (102). Kevin De Bruyne is also very close to the three-digit mark (98).

De Bruyne is 31 years old and in terms of probability, he probably has less chance of top spot than Kane in goals. On the other hand, from today’s perspective, we dare to guess that if everything goes according to the current trends, second place is certain.

The last data we will mention in this text is a statistic that we as Czechs can be duly proud of. It is none other than the table in the number of zeroes caught, which is dominated by Petr Čech (202), who is also the only goalkeeper to open the third hundred.

He is followed by David James (169), Mark Schwarzer (151) and David Seaman (141). Only one zero less than the last named is still active David de Gea from Manchester United.

The thirty-two year old Spaniard will probably find it hard to beat Cech’s record, but again it has to be said that his move to the medal positions looks like a certainty.

Source: Premier League