The best Premier League players of all time - ranked: 40-31

Since its inception in 1992, the Premier League has been the home of some of the greatest footballers of all time.

From early Premier League years heroes like Eric Cantona, to Ballon d'Or winners like Cristiano Ronaldo, and modern day greats like Mohamed Salah, English football fans have been treated to watching true footballing icons week in, week out over the last three decades.

But who is the greatest Premier League player of all time?

Well, that's what we're here to decide.

Over the next week, 90min will be ranking the top 50 Premier League players of all time. After ranking 50-41 on Monday, we're back with 40-31 today...

40. Robert Pires

• Premier League clubs: Arsenal, Aston Villa
• Position: Wide midfielder

As his utterly delightful chipped goal against Southampton attests, Robert Pires was a pretty exceptional footballer in his day.

At the peak of his powers at Arsenal, the ex-France international was a force to be reckoned with - chipping in with an average of 17 goal contributions a season during his time working under Arsene Wenger.

39. Virgil van Dijk

• Premier League clubs: Southampton, Liverpool
• Position: Defender

The signing that pretty much changed everything for Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool.

Purchased for an eyebrow-raising (at the time) £75m from Southampton, Van Dijk proved to be the missing piece in the puzzle for Liverpool. After signing the defender, the Reds would go on to win their first Premier League title thanks in large part to the Dutch star's influence.

His performances were so good that season, in fact, that he became the first defender in 14 years to win the PFA Player of the Year award.

38. Andy Cole

• Premier League clubs: Newcastle United, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Sunderland
• Position: Forward

There are two things to know about Andy Cole: he played for a lot of clubs, and he scored a lot of goals.

The forward scored a quite remarkable 187 Premier League goals to be exact, the fourth-most in the division's history.

Impressive stuff.

37. Robbie Fowler

• Premier League clubs: Liverpool, Leeds United, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers
• Position: Forward

When your nickname is "God", you must've been quite good at football. And that's exactly what Robbie Fowler was.

The Scouse legend's form between 1994 and 1997 is the stuff of legend at this point, with Fowler bagging a ridiculous 71 goals in that three-year period alone. If injuries didn't rear their ugly head, Fowler may have been the greatest goalscorer England has ever produced.

36. Petr Cech

• Premier League clubs: Chelsea, Arsenal
• Position: Goalkeeper

Spoiler alert: there are only three goalkeepers on this list, and Petr Cech is deservedly one of them.

With a four league titles and a record four Premier League Golden Glove awards to his name for his performances over the years at Chelsea and Arsenal, Cech is rightly considered to be one of the greatest goalies in the game's history.

35. Jaap Stam

• Premier League club: Manchester United
• Position: Defender

Jaap Stam spent three full seasons at Manchester United, during which he won three Premier League titles and was named in three PFA Team of the Years.

On the pitch, Stam barely put a foot wrong throughout his time in England.

34. Gareth Bale

• Premier League club: Tottenham Hotspur
• Position: Wide forward

Before he was scoring overhead kicks in UEFA Champions League finals for Real Madrid, Gareth Bale was winning PFA Player of the Year awards with Tottenham Hotspur.

The dynamic wide player racked up two PFA Player of the Year gongs during his first spell at Spurs. His 21 goal final season at the club, when he dragged a rather bad Tottenham side kicking and screaming to European qualification, is the stuff of legend as White Hart Lane.

33. Robin van Persie

• Premier League clubs: Arsenal, Manchester United
• Position: Forward

Peppered in between injury absences during his early years at Arsenal were goals so good that fans thought 'if Robin van Persie could stay fit he'd be the best player in the Premier League'.

And then it happened. Between 2010 and 2014, RVP stayed fit and he became the best player in the Premier League.

His 86 goals in those four seasons - including 30 in his final season at Arsenal - earned him countless accolades during that times, but perhaps the most impressive was the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson made Van Persie his last big signing to win one final league title before he retired; something they did in 2012.

32. Yaya Toure

• Premier League club: Manchester City
• Position: Midfielder

In 2013/14, Yaya Toure had the greatest season any midfielder has ever had in the Premier League. Better than any Steven Gerrard season, better than any Roy Keane season, better than Frank Lampard season.

His 20 goals fired Manchester City to the title that year, and earned him a place on this list too - which is what really matters.

31. Luis Suarez

• Premier League club: Liverpool
• Position: Forward

If this list was taking into account players' full careers, and not just their Premier League careers, Luis Suarez would probably be in the top ten.

We'd only see Suarez pull on the Liverpool jersey for three-and-a-half seasons, but he made quite the impression during that period. In his final two campaigns with the club, Suarez managed to net 23 goals in 33 games, and then 31 goals in 33 games, to win one Golden Boot, one PFA Player of the Year, one FWA Footballer of the Year, and one European Golden Shoe, but sadly never a Premier League title.

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