The current 2016/17 campaign marks the 25th anniversary of the Premier League. This year, we've seen countless successes and failures, as well as incredible goals and hair-raising moments.
After Leicester City's remarkable fairytale victory last term, six clubs have lifted the prestigious trophy, the other five being Manchester United (13), Chelsea (4), Arsenal (3), Manchester City (2) and Blackburn Rovers (1). Antonio Conte's Blues look like they will win the 25th title in a season which has been strangely predictable in comparison to last campaign.
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To win the EPL is one of the greatest achievements a footballer can ever experience and, to do so twice, takes extraordinary talent. In homage to the English top flight's silver anniversary, let's take a look at five players who've done the incredible not once, but twice...
#1 Carlos Tevez
The Argentine shook things up in Manchester in 2009, when he switched Red for Blue and joined Manchester United's bitter rivals City for a whopping £47 million. During his two-year loan spell at Old Trafford, the forward won back-to-back league titles with the Red Devils in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons.
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Problems surfaced surrounding Tevez's future at the club, with United reluctant to make his loan deal permanent. As a result, the striker made the move to City where he scored 58 goals in all competitions and won the Premier League title yet again three years after the transfer.
So not only was the Argentinian international the first individual to switch between the two clubs since Terry Cooke in 1999, but he also joined an exclusive list of players to have lifted the EPL title twice. Tevez became the highest paid footballer in the world at the end of last year when he agreed a move to Shanghai Shenhua, where he'd receive an annual wage close to $41 million.
#2 Nicolas Anelka
It's actually twenty years ago this week that Arsene Wenger snapped up a 17-year-old French forward from PSG who would later go on to earn the title 'Le Sulk'. Dubbed in this way for his frequent fall-outs on and off the pitch, Anelka's playing ability was, unlike his attitude, never a disappointment.
During his two-year spell in North London, the Frenchman scored 23 goals in 65 appearances, having been signed up for a mere £500,000. A long-term injury to first-choice forward Ian Wright in the 1997/98 season opened the door for Anelka, still in his teens, to get some first-team football under his belt. He capitalised on the opportunity and was a key
component of an Arsenal side which went on to win the league and FA Cup double that season.
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After navigating his way through five more clubs, which all combined splashed out more than £70 million on the player, Anelka returned to London to play for Chelsea. It would be here that he’d play more games than at any other outfit during his career. The Frenchman would also win his second EPL trophy with the Blues in the 2009/10 campaign.
#3 Ashley Cole
Now plying his trade for LA Galaxy in the MLS, former-England international Cole kick-started his career at the turn of the century with Arsenal. Cole was a boyhood Gunners fan and signed his first professional contract for the club in February 2000.
The Englishman had a short loan spell across the English capital with Crystal Palace before he became a regular starter for Wenger and eventually went on to win two Premier League titles with the North-London side, the first in the 2001/02 season and the second in the 2003/04 ‘invincibles’ campaign.
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The left-back, frustrated by Arsenal’s renewed contract offer in 2006, transferred to Chelsea where he spent the most part of his career. After publically making evident his reconciliation with Arsenal, Cole went on to have a very successful career with the Blues, being a part of the first ever London club to win the Champions League in 2012 and, of course, lifting the Premier League crown with his second club and for the third time overall in the 2009/10 season.
#4 Robert Huth
When Leicester City won their incredible Premier League title last campaign, a great deal of the magic stemmed from the fact that none of them had done anything of the sort before. The more knowledgeable football fan would, however, have known that it wasn’t the first Premier League medal German defender Robert Huth had won.
The 32-year-old, along with his title success with the Foxes, is recognised for his contribution to Stoke City establishing themselves as a top-flight club. He made one game shy of 150 appearances for the Potters and it was the first club he really settled down at after spells with Middlesbrough and Chelsea earlier in his career.
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Huth played just enough matches in the 2004/05 and 2005/06 campaigns to register for Premier League winners medals, rendering him a two-time victor of the world’s hottest league at just 21-years-old.
The German would later transition to Stoke who loaned him out to Leicester in 2015, before his move to the King Power Stadium was made permanent. Huth formed a formidable partnership with Wes Morgan at the heart of Leicester’s defence last term and the rest, as they say, is history.
#5 Henning Berg
Now the manager of Hungarian club Videoton, former Norweigan international Berg certainly isn’t the first name to spring to mind upon mention of Premier League success. That said, he had quite the successful career during his time in the English top flight.
Blackburn Rovers’ Kenny Dalglish signed the defender from Norweigan outfit Lillestrøm in 1993 after being impressed by his performance in an international match against England at Wembley. Berg played all bar two matches in the Riversiders’ incredible 1994/95 season and as a result was on the radar of Manchester United who snapped him up for £5 million in 1997.
Although his influence would this time not be as prominent as it was with Blackburn, with Dutch defender Jaap Stam forcing him out of first-team selection, Berg did pick up another Premier League medal with his second club in 1999. Of the players on this list, Berg was the first to achieve the feat of winning the title with two different sides.
