ALAN SHEARER and Micah Richards have picked their top 10 full-backs from the Premier League era.
Both men agreed upon former Arsenal, Chelsea and England man Ashley Cole as the best they’ve seen in the top flight since 1992.
Alan Shearer’s top 10 Premier League full-backs
- Ashley Cole
- Dennis Irwin
- Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Andy Robertson
- Gary Neville
- Kyle Walker
- Stuart Pearce
- Lee Dixon
- Patrice Evra
- Micah Richards
But there were some surprise names missing from the list including Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta and ex-Everton left-back Leighton Baines.
And Richards himself made it into the top 10 lists for his nine-year spell in the Premier League with Manchester City, where he won the title in 2012.
Disagreements between the pair landed on individuals such as former Manchester United man Dennis Irwin, who Shearer placed second and Richards placed seventh.
And they also thought very differently about another ex-Red Devil in Patrice Evra, with Richards putting him as high as fourth compared to Shearer’s ninth.
However, most of the positions in the top 10 were, for the most part, agreed upon between the two BBC pundits.
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold was named third in both lists despite having made just 135 appearances in the Prem.
Micah Richards’ top 10 Premier League full-backs
- Ashley Cole
- Gary Neville
- Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Patrice Evra
- Kyle Walker
- Andy Robertson
- Dennis Irwin
- Stuart Peace
- Lee Dixon
- Micah Richards
He was followed closely by fellow Liverpool teammate Andy Robertson, who placed fourth and sixth on the respective top 10s.
Both Richards and Shearer think highly of ex-Man Utd man Gary Neville, with the Premier League’s record scorer naming him the second best full-back in the competition’s history.
Richards put the now Sky Sports pundit fifth, but was still praising of the 1999 treble-winning defender.
Kyle Walker, Stuart Pearce and Lee Dixon also made it into the top 10 as Shearer and Richards – with the help of Gary Lineker – picked their way through the Prem’s greatest full-backs.
Speaking about their No1 pick Cole on the Match of the Day Top 10 podcast, Shearer said: “This, for me, was my easiest topic to pick number one.
“Ashley Cole stands out on here more than anyone else for being a defender. He was the best at that.
“Very rarely anyone got past him, you couldn’t rough him up because he was hard as nails. He was nasty, horrible at times. But one versus one, he was magnificent.”
And Richards added: If I had one criticism it is offensively. He could have had bigger numbers of goals and assists.But that is just the final piece.
“He was the best full-back we had during my time with England.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
