The greatest individual seasons in Premier League history

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has already produced one of the greatest individual Premier League seasons for Arne Slot’s league leaders. 

Here, football writer Adrian Kajumba looks back at some other standout campaigns, and YOU can vote for your favourite.

Eric Cantona (Leeds/Man Utd) – 1992/93

Not content with producing for one club, Eric Cantona did it for two in the first Premier League season.

He started it with six goals and five assists for Leeds United before adding nine more goals and 11 assists following a mid-season switch to Manchester United.

His total of 16 assists was the best in the division in the first Premier League campaign of 1992/93 while he inspired the Old Trafford side to the top-division title a year after he had also helped Leeds win it.

That made him the first player to win successive English titles with different clubs.

Andrew Cole (Newcastle) – 1993/94

In his debut season of regular, top-flight football, Andrew Cole immediately lit up the Premier League by scoring 34 times, recording 13 assists, to become the first player to top the goal and assists charts in the same season.

His 47 goal involvement total in a single season has never been beaten while his goal tally, albeit from a 42-game campaign, was not topped until Manchester City’s Erling Haaland managed to in 2022/23, but remains the highest not to include a single penalty.

Cole’s exploits earned him the PFA Young Player of the Year award and Newcastle United third place, which remains the highest Premier League finish of a promoted side.

Alan Shearer (Blackburn) – 1994/95

Alan Shearer was pipped to the Golden Boot by three goals in 1993/94 but set the benchmark the following season with 34 goals, to claim the first of his three successive awards. He also matched Cole’s goal involvement record of 47 by adding 13 assists.

Shearer’s efforts brought Blackburn Rovers the ultimate reward of the Premier League title, saw him win the division’s Player of the Season award and contributed to the former England captain finishing his career as the competition’s all-time top scorer with 260 goals.

Kevin Phillips (Sunderland) – 1999/00

Six years after leaving non-league club Baldock Town, who he played for while also working in his local supermarket, Kevin Phillips became the Premier League and Europe’s most prolific scorer after his 30-goal haul for Sunderland, adding four assists too.

Phillips scored three more goals than his team-mates managed combined, one of just eight occasions in Premier League history that a player has outscored their team-mates in a season.

His heroics earned him the Premier League Golden Boot and saw him become the first Englishman to win the European Golden Shoe for the top league scorer from one of the continent’s top divisions.

Thierry Henry (Arsenal) – 2002/03

Thierry Henry proved more than once he could do it all as an attacker. In 2002/03 he netted 24 goals and set up 20 more, making him the first player in history to get 20+ goals and assists in a single season in a top five league.

His 20 assists and 44 goal involvements, in a 38-match season, remain joint, competition records.

Two seasons later Henry scored another 25 goals to win the Premier League Golden Boot and share of the European Golden Shoe, making him the first player to officially win the latter prize two years running. He also contributed another 14 assists in 2004/05.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) – 2007/08

Cristiano Ronaldo’s evolution from skilful, occasionally frustrating winger to prolific scorer went into overdrive in 2007/08 when he netted 31 goals in just 34 Premier League games, adding six assists to his goal contributions total.

His goals – 42 in 49 games in all competitions – and assists inspired Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to a Premier League and UEFA Champions League double and won him a host of honours including a second successive Premier League player of the year award, the division’s golden boot and the first of five Ballon d’Ors.

He also became the first Premier League player to be named FIFA’s World Player of the Year.

Didier Drogba (Chelsea) – 2009/10

Didier Drogba was at his deadliest this season, scoring a career best Golden Boot-winning 29 goals, with 10 assists on top.

Drogba’s achievements came in just 32 Premier League games and helped Chelsea lift the title in their double winning campaign.

His 39 goal involvements is the joint-sixth highest total in Premier League history though he surely would have been even higher had he not missed a month of the season while on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Ivory Coast.

Frank Lampard (Chelsea) – 2009/10

Close behind Drogba in importance to Chelsea during their double winning campaign was Frank Lampard. He produced the second-best scoring season from a midfielder in Premier League history, netting 22 times and also recording a chart-topping 14 assists.

This was the most prolific scoring season of Lampard’s career as he passed the 20 league goal mark for the only time and finished on 27 in all competitions.

Robin van Persie (Arsenal) – 2011/12

This season was Robin van Persie at his prolific peak. After establishing himself as an out-and-out striker for Arsenal, having been successfully converted from a winger by Arsene Wenger, Van Persie bagged 30 goals, to claim the first of his two successive Premier League Golden Boots, and still also contributed nine assists.

His 39 goal contributions, in his final season at Arsenal before being prised away by Man Utd, is the joint fifth-highest tally in the competition’s history.

Gareth Bale (Spurs) – 2012/13

Gareth Bale was an increasingly talismanic figure during this season, single-handedly winning a string of games especially when he went into overdrive after Christmas.

A stunning season for the Welsh winger culminated in him scoring 21 goals, recording four assists and winning all the major individual honours, including the Premier League Player of the Season to cap the best campaign of his career.

Bale’s form also persuaded Real Madrid to buy him for a reported world record fee in the summer of 2013.

Luis Suarez (Liverpool) – 2013/14

Luis Suarez was the main reason Liverpool came as close as they did to winning the Premier League in this season – finishing just two points behind Man City – after one of the great individual seasons in competition history.

Suarez won the Premier League Golden Boot with 31 goals – none from the penalty spot – and finished second for assists with 13, all from just 33 games.

Yaya Toure (Man City) – 2013/14

Yaya Toure was instrumental to Man City’s second Premier League title in three years after a standout season.

He enjoyed the best season of his career for goals, even outscoring strikers Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko, as he netted 20 times in the Premier League, including a first senior hat-trick against Fulham.

Jamie Vardy (Leicester) – 2015/16

Jamie Vardy was one of the main characters in one of football’s greatest ever fairytales – Leicester City’s odds-defying Premier League title triumph of 2015/16.

Vardy contributed 24 goals and six assists, breaking his current Foxes manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s 12-year record by scoring in 11 successive Premier League games and was named Premier League Player of the Season.

N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) – 2016/17

N’Golo Kante was another key cog in that Leicester side and proved how influential he was by then going on to help Chelsea win the title the following season.

The tireless defensive midfielder was one of the mainstays of Antonio Conte’s side, became the first outfield player since Cantona to win back-to-back English titles with two different clubs and was crowned EA SPORTS Player of the Season.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – 2017/18

Salah enjoyed a dream debut season at Liverpool individually, which he capped by winning the Premier League Golden Boot and being crowned EA SPORTS Player of the Season.

Salah set a new high for goals in a 38-game Premier League season when he netted 32 times, including a Puskas Award-winning strike against Everton. With 10 assists too, Salah’s 42 goal involvements is the joint-fourth highest total in Premier League history.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) – 2018/19

Man City won the title and Van Dijk player of the season but Eden Hazard was the Premier League’s shining attacking light in 2018/19.

Hazard was at his dazzling best producing countless moments as he finished the season with 15 goals and 16 assists for UEFA Europa League winners Chelsea, producing a campaign that earned him a summer move to Real Madrid.

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) – 2018/19

Virgil van Dijk is credited with helping transform Liverpool’s defence after arriving in January 2018 and his impact was underlined when he became just the third different defender to be named the EA SPORTS Player of the Season at the end of his first full campaign.

Van Dijk missed just 35 minutes of league action, helped runners-up and Champions League winners Liverpool keep 20 league clean sheets and finish with the division’s best defensive record, conceding just 22 goals.

Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) – 2019/20

Despite Man City coming up short in their bid to retain their Premier League crown, Kevin De Bruyne was the season’s standout individual and at his creative peak which was confirmed with his EA SPORTS Player of the Season award.

Thanks to 20 assists, the Belgian equalled Henry’s assist record and won the second of his three Premier League Playmaker of the Season awards.

He also scored 13 times in his best season for combined goals and assists in England.

Erling Haaland (Man City) – 2022/23

Haaland ruthlessly ripped up the record books in a debut season that will take some topping, finishing with a golden boot-winning 36 Premier League goals, and breaking Cole and Shearer’s previous high of 34 from a 42-game season in a 38-match campaign.

With eight assists Haaland also matched Henry’s 38-game record of 44 goal involvements.

Haaland’s final all-competitions goal tally of 52 is the highest ever in a season as he inspired City to the Treble and became the first to win both the Hublot Young Player and EA SPORTS Player of the Season awards.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – 2024/25

Salah is on course to raise the bar to unprecedented heights after an incredible campaign for league leaders Liverpool.

With 10 matches left in a season in which he has already shattered a host of other records Salah is already on 42 Premier League goal involvements, just 11 goals short of Haaland’s competition best goal tally, on a league leading 25, and three behind Henry and De Bruyne’s assist record, on 17, also the highest in the division.