07 December 2020

Where do Harry Kane and Son Heung-min rate among top duos of Premier League era?

07 December 2020

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min continued to cement their status as the Premier League’s most effective strike force with starring roles in Sunday’s north London derby win over Arsenal.

The Tottenham pair set each other up for both goals in the hosts’ 2-0 victory and have 18 between them for the season.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how they compare to the most reliable duos of the Premier League era.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min (Tottenham, 128 goals)

Kane has now scored 81 goals and Son 47 when they have shared the pitch in the league, which equates to 1.32 goals every 90 minutes.

Son ran onto Kane’s pass for the opener on Sunday before sending a long-range effort into the top corner for his 10th Premier League goal of the season, while Kane’s near-post strike capped off a fine counter-attack, taking them up to 31 goal-assist combinations in their time together.

The pair have teamed up for more goals than any other current partnership, with Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne next on 20 and De Bruyne the provider for 19 of those.

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane (Liverpool, 110 goals)

Mohamed Salah, centre, and Sadio Mane, right, celebrate (PA Wire)

Liverpool’s star attackers are the closest behind Son and Kane with a combined record of 1.25 goals per 90 minutes when playing together – Salah has 61 goals in that time, with Mane one away from joining him on a half-century.

The pair have left Roberto Firmino as firmly the third man in Liverpool’s attack but he has set up 10 Salah goals and 11 for Mane, while they have provided six and four assists respectively for his strikes.

Thierry Henry and Robert Pires (Arsenal, 162 goals)

The longest-serving and overall highest-scoring partnership on the list, Henry and Pires played over 12,000 minutes together and shared 162 goals, with Henry’s 108 exactly doubling the winger’s tally.

Another fellow Frenchman, Sylvain Wiltord, was also an effective partner for Henry in a shorter period, sharing 67 goals at better than one per 90 minutes, while Dennis Bergkamp was a long-standing creative foil to him but was left in the shade in terms of goalscoring.

Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling (Manchester City, 101 goals)

Sergio Aguero, left, joins the celebrations after Raheem Sterling, centre, scored against Arsenal (PA Wire)

Aguero passed Henry last season as the Premier League’s top-scoring overseas player, and he and Sterling have combined for 101 goals at 1.20 per 90 minutes, with the Argentinian scoring 65 and Sterling adding his 36th against Arsenal on October 17 as Aguero played for the first time this season.

Midfielder De Bruyne does not score enough to be viewed as part of a strike partnership with either but has set up 12 for Sterling and those 19 for Aguero – as well as 10 for Gabriel Jesus.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, 109 goals)

Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Wayne Rooney (right) played together at Manchester United from 2004 to 2009 (Peter Byrne/PA). (PA Archive)

Ronaldo and Rooney are the partnership on this list with the goalscoring figures closest together – a difference of seven, with the Portuguese netting 58 times and the former England captain 51.

That combined total of 109 goals came at a rate of 1.01 per 90 minutes.

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