There was a time not so long ago when pretty much every club in the Premier League all lined up each week in a 4-4-2 formation.
Some argue it was the arrival in the English top-flight of a young upstart by the name of Jose Mourinho in 2004 and his use of a lone striker and a three man midfield that was the start of the extinction of 4-4-2.
In truth there are many other factors like the rise of possession based football, high pressing and inverted wingers, but the fact of the matter is that the once sacrosanct 4-4-2 has now become a formation that many look at with scorn as some kind of pre-historic tactical approach to the game.
One of the beauty’s of the 4-4-2 though was that it lined each team up in a series of individual duals – especially between each two sides two strikers and two centre-backs.
In this bonus episode we take a trip down memory lane discussing the different guises the strike duos of yesteryear came in and pick our five best strike partnerships in Premier League history.
