Jamie Carragher has risked the ire of football fans across the country by picking his 10 greatest Premier League forwards while presenting Monday Night Football with Thierry Henry.
The pair joined forces to analyse West Ham 1-1 draw with Bournemouth which was lit up by two late goals.
Earlier, Henry had gained plaudits from viewers for picking out a subtle detail of Amad Diallo’s strike for Manchester United against Man City from Sunday, noticing that the Ivorian had not even looked at the ball as it came over his head.
And the former Arsenal star earned more praise, this time for his playing career, being crowned the best forward in Premier League history by Carragher on the Sky Sports show.
It turns out the public agree, with 31 per cent of almost 50,000 voters selecting Henry as their choice for the honour, leaving the likes of Alan Shearer (18 per cent) and Mohamed Salah (14 per cent) languishing far behind.
Carragher, however, deviated from the views of the watching audience on almost every placing except for the top man Henry, who scored 228 goals in 377 games for the Gunners, while winning two Premier League titles and an FA Cup.
Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football selected their best Premier League forward tonight
Thierry Henry, who was also a pundit tonight, won both Carragher’s choice and public vote
Salah was second for Carragher, who explained why he chose him over Cristiano Ronaldo
The former Liverpool captain branded some of the selections as ‘recency bias’.
The entertaining process caused controversy from the start after Carragher choice a shortlist for the award, which judged each player on their best three seasons in the league.
This list included Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dennis Bergkamp, Didier Drogba, Eden Hazard, Eric Cantona, Gareth Bale, Harry Kane, Luis Suarez, Salah, Sergio Aguero, Henry and Wayne Rooney.
Erling Haaland was a notable early exception as was Robin van Persie and, when Carragher came round to picking his top 10, former Spurs star Kane became the latest snub.
In judging the forwards, the pundit said he valued ‘the impact players have had in the Premier League’.
‘He added: ‘Others we thought are they going to be in the top three or four? There’s great goalscorers, no 10s and wide forwards which we see more in the game now.’
Former PFA Player of the Year and Spurs icon Bale grabbed 10th before Henry’s team-mate Bergkamp slotted into ninth and Premier League-winning wide man Hazard was placed eighth.
Then, a shock as all time Premier League record goalscorer Shearer was left in seventh despite finding the net a whopping 260 times in the competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo narrowly missed out to Salah and had to settle for third place
Eric Cantona was praised for his impact on the league and Henry even ‘thanked’ him
Didier Drogba was praised for his goals in big matches and secured fifth place
Rooney, who won the lot, at United had to settle for sixth position with Carragher suggesting he ‘he was best up front right against the centre-backs’ and suffered after being pushed back.
Drogba found himself in fifth, with particular emphasis placed on his goals in big games including the Champions League final, and the pundit said:
‘I picture him in decisive moments winning his team trophies including a Champions League final, no one did it better than him for the biggest moments.’
United’s Cantona was in fourth with Carragher saying: ‘He was the biggest star of the Premier League.
‘You think of him and Shearer at the start of it, he was the best and most talked about player in the Premier League.
‘He joins and they win four of the next five titles and the only one he doesn’t win is when he’s suspended.’
Henry described thanking his countryman for the impact he had on French football and showing people like him it was ‘possible’ to be a success abroad.
The world’s all-time leading scorer Ronaldo ended up in third and Henry heaped praise on the United icon, saying: ‘His body is even better than when he was younger the amount of work he does, he proved the sky was the limit.’
Salah took second place as he continues to show his value to Liverpool despite his future at the club being in doubt with his contract up in the summer.
There was no room for City’s Erling Haaland mainly due to his short stint in the league
Harry Kane, meanwhile, missed out on the top 10 to former Spurs man Gareth Bale
Carragher said: ‘Salah’s record was better than Ronaldo but Ronaldo came as a young kid. Salah gets 40-odd in his first season but he’s more mature.
‘Salah didn’t get to the level of a Ballon d’Or but Man United were a side you think would win the league but Salah joined Liverpool who had not won the league in 30 years and that just edges it.
‘His goalscoring and assist record is also a lot better.’
And in a rather inevitable moment, Henry scooped first place in the contest, worthy recognition for his role in the Invincibles side and the flair he brought to the league.
