Greatest Premier League XI

Midfield

Roy Keane (Nottingham Forest & Manchester United, Rep. of Ireland)

Roy Keane has gone down in Manchester United folklore as one of the club’s most effective and influential players ever. His leadership qualities were legendary and his commitment and drive to win was extraordinary. Keane was the engine of Ferguson’s United team and he did the hard gritty work for his more skillful team-mates. Without Keane there is no way United would have achieved the level of success that they did.

He was the catalyst for United’s success. In tight games Keane was the player his team-mates always looked towards for inspiration and he delivered for them and drove them to victory time and again. The importance of Keane to United is shown clearly during the 1997-98 season. When Keane injured his cruciate ligament against Leeds, he was out for the remainder of the season. Many pundits cited Keane's absence as a crucial factor in the team's surrender of the league trophy.

Putting that disappointment aside, the following season Keane put on one of the greatest performance by a midfielder in the modern era. After receiving a yellow card against Juventus which ruled him out of the Champions League Fianl, Keane didn’t dwell on his own disappointment, he put his energy to inspire his team-mates to victory. His header to get United back on track was simply magnificent.

After the match, Alex Ferguson said, “It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player.” His performance was so good that he was applauded off the pitch by the Juventus supporters.

Appearances: 366, Goals: 39

Paul Scholes (Manchester United and England)

Paul Scholes celebrates scoring during the Barclays Premier League match between Norwich City and Manchester United at Carrow Road

Paul Scholes has been described by fellow professionals and pundits as one of the best midfielders of his generation and absolutely no one could argue with that. Maybe some fans didn’t appreciate Scholes when he was playing because of his low key personality off the pitch. But this is about measuring people’s performances on the pitch rather than their antics off it. When it comes to performing on the pitch, he was simply world class and a joy to watch.

The following are quotes about Paul Scholes from fellow professionals. Sócrates of Brazil said, "(Paul Scholes) good enough to play for Brazil. I love to watch Scholes, to see him pass, the boy with the red hair and the red shirt.” Thierry Henry said, "Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes ... He knows how to do everything.” France legend Zinedine Zidane hailed Paul Scholes as “the complete footballer”, and admitted that “One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career.”

In February 2011, Barcelona midfielder Xavi rated Scholes as the best player in his position in the past two decades, stating "A role model. For me, and I really mean this, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all, the last pass, goals, he's strong; he doesn't lose the ball, vision. If he'd been Spanish he might have been rated more highly. Players love him.” Simply put and this isn’t an exaggeration, Paul Scholes will go down in not only Premier League but also football history as one of the best ever.

Appearances: 499, Goals: 107

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool and England)

Definitely the hardest pick on the team. The choice between Lampard and Gerrard is so hard to choose from as both share some of the same characteristics. There are very alike in the way they play. Both were attack minded, scoring midfielders in their prime who have had to cut down on their instincts as they roles have been defined differently as time has gone by. It was difficult; however in the end I went for Gerrard.

The reason I picked Gerrard was due to the fact that he has played with some poor players but has still kept his world class performances high while Lampard has consistently played with better players (and managers) so we will never know what he would have been like if he was playing with bad players. Gerrard has been described as one of the greatest English midfielders in history, "a real leader, Gerrard is a tireless runner and has superb vision. His striking from distance is feared around the world and he is a prolific scorer for a midfielder.”

Like Keane for United, Gerrard was always someone who his team-mates looked towards for moments of inspiration. Some of the moments produced by Gerrard will always be remembered by Liverpool fans but for fans in general the 2005 campaign of achieving Champions League success will go down as one of the great footballing moments. One mark against Gerrard is his failure (as of yet) to win a Premier League title. He is the only one this list to have such distinction.

Appearances: 472, Goals: 111

Edited by Staff Editor