{"id":296799,"date":"2023-11-18T13:25:05","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T13:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=296799"},"modified":"2023-11-18T13:25:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-18T13:25:05","slug":"ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Ollie Watkins names an Arsenal legend as the best Premier League striker ever&#8230; but there was no space for Wayne Rooney in the Aston Villa star&#8217;s greatest forwards list<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Aston Villa&#8217;s Ollie Watkins named his top five Premier League strikers of all time<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The England forward picked two former Man United stars in his list of strikers<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Anthony Gordon should ditch England to play for Scotland &#8211; It&#8217;s All Kicking Off<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ollie Watkins has named his top five Premier League strikers of all time with an Arsenal legend clinching top spot, but there was no room for Wayne Rooney.<\/p>\n<p>The Aston Villa striker has been in a rich vein of form this season, scoring six Premier League goals and registering five assists to put Unai Emery&#8217;s side within three points of table-toppers Manchester City.<\/p>\n<p>Consecutive England call-ups have demonstrated Gareth Southgate&#8217;s ambitions to use Watkins as a back-up for Three Lions captain Harry Kane at next year&#8217;s European Championship.<\/p>\n<p>His goalscoring exploits for Villa this season have made Watkins one of the most formidable strikers in the English top-flight and he has now revealed the former professionals who inspired him.<\/p>\n<p>Watkins has scored 11 goals in all competitions with Villa fighting for silverware in the Carabao Cup, UEFA Europa Conference League and the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/12\/77962009-12765155-image-a-1_1700310415870.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins picked his top five Premier League strikers of all time<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/12\/77962011-12765155-image-a-2_1700310421849.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Watkins (right) is currently on international duty with England where he provides back-up for Three Lions captain Harry Kane<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old has rose through the ranks of English football, starting his career at Exeter City during which time he had a spell at non-league side Weston Super Mare, before moving onto Brentford and eventually Aston Villa.<\/p>\n<p>Watkins picked his top five Premier League strikers of all time in a recent interview with BT Sport and named former Spurs forward Jermain Defoe as his fifth choice.<\/p>\n<p>Defoe scored 302 career goals with spells at Tottenham, West Ham and Sunderland proving as the most rewarding before he retired last year following a stint at Rangers.<\/p>\n<p>Watkins then picked former Arsenal and Man United goalscorer Robin van Persie as the Premier League&#8217;s fourth best striker after the Dutchman&#8217;s heroics at both clubs.<\/p>\n<p>Van Persie was a legend at Arsenal before swapping the Gunners for Man United where his goalscoring exploits guided the club to a 13th Premier League crown and Sir Alex Ferguson&#8217;s final title.<\/p>\n<p>Another United striker made a surprise inclusion in Watkins&#8217; top picks as Ruud van Nistelrooy clinched third spot.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/12\/77962019-12765155-image-a-4_1700310520300.jpg\" height=\"439\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>There was no place for Wayne Rooney as Watkins picked his top five Premier League strikers<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/12\/77962007-12765155-image-a-3_1700310428523.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Arsenal legend Thierry Henry (third from left) was named by Watkins as the best Premier League striker<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/12\/77962021-12765155-image-a-5_1700310525110.jpg\" height=\"415\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Man United and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie also made the list of legendary forwards<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/18\/12\/77962023-12765155-image-a-6_1700310529812.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England and Newcastle legend Alan Shearer was named second in the list behind Henry<\/p>\n<p>Van Nistelrooy&#8217;s time at Old Trafford seen him burst onto the scene with 95 Premier League goals in just 150 appearances, before he was then sold to Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>Alan Shearer was the runner-up for Watkins with the Englishman still holding the all-time Premier League goals record after scoring 260 times in the competition.<\/p>\n<p>However, top spot was reserved for Arsenal icon Thierry Henry, who Watkins described as a player who he &#8216;idolises&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman scored 175 goals during his time with the Gunners, during which time he won the Premier League twice before being sold to Barcelona.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12765155\/Ollie-Watkins-five-premier-league-strikers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ollie Watkins names an Arsenal legend as the best Premier League striker ever&#8230; but there was no space for Wayne Rooney in the Aston Villa star&#8217;s greatest forwards list Aston Villa&#8217;s Ollie Watkins named his top five Premier League strikers of all time The England forward picked two former Man United stars in his list [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ollie Watkins names an Arsenal legend as the best Premier League striker ever&#8230; but there was no space for Wayne Rooney in the Aston Villa star&#8217;s greatest forwards list Aston Villa&#8217;s Ollie Watkins named his top five Premier League strikers of all time The England forward picked two former Man United stars in his list [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-18T13:25:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Ollie-Watkins-picks-his-top-five-Premier-League-strikers-of-all-time.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/\",\"name\":\"Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time - Sports Life Tale\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-18T13:25:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-18T13:25:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Life Tale\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Robert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Robert\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time - Sports Life Tale","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/ollie-watkins-picks-his-top-five-premier-league-strikers-of-all-time\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ollie Watkins picks his top five Premier League strikers of all time - Sports Life Tale","og_description":"Ollie Watkins names an Arsenal legend as the best Premier League striker ever&#8230; 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