Top Super-Subs in the Premier League
Peter Crouch celebrates for England
Everyone loves a super-sub, a player who comes off the bench in their team’s hour of need to rescue a situation.
Sometimes when a football manager's Plan A fails, the substitutes can make or break a situation and they can be as important as the players making the starting eleven.
Throwing on a striker with 10 minutes to go to try and grab a goal, also gives bettors in-play options at bookmakers from Match.Center about what impact the sub will have.
A lot of famous names like Peter Crouch and Ryan Giggs made a lot of appearances as substitutes during their Premier League days, despite being players good enough to start.
Here we have a look at some of the best players who have been utilised as a sub a lot in the top flight.
Peter Crouch
The aforementioned Crouch was a legend in his own making. The robot-dancing 6' 7" striker had the ability to disrupt any defence because of his stature. In total, Crouch played for seven Premier League clubs including Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa and was popular wherever he went.
Crouch's height made him an obvious go-to sub, giving his team clear options to launch long balls into the box at their target man.
He played a total of 599 games and tallied 145 Premier League goals during his long career.
Of those appearances, Crouch came off the bench 158 times. But he was also a regular starter for long stints of his career, particularly during his time at Stoke City.
Crouch was an England international too, with a great record of 22 goals in 42 appearances for his country.
James Milner
A stalwart at Liverpool for so many years, James Milner parted ways with the Anfield club at the end of the 2023 season.
His Premier League days aren't over however, as he moves to Brighton, adding valuable experience as the Seagulls make their way into European football for the first time.
Milner is now the only active EPL player that has passed 500 appearances.
Famously in April 2021, Milner passed Crouch's record as the most subbed-on player in Premier League history.
There's no final tally for Milner yet in terms of substitution appearances, but in the 2022-23 season, he came off the bench 25 times for the Reds in the top flight.
Ryan Giggs
There was a lot of time on and off the bench for Manchester United's star winger Ryan Giggs during his playing career.
He was such an impact player that Sir Alex Ferguson would happily save him for the latter stages of games, or yank him off the pitch for a rest when results were in United's favour.
The Welsh Wizard was very well-managed and that led to him making 110 appearances off the bench for United.
On the other side of the coin, he was called to the bench a whopping 134 times for the Red Devils making him the most-subbed-off player in Premier League history, with his play-making team-mate Paul Scholes not far behind.
But still, Giggs won 13 EPL titles during his time on and off the bench.
Jermaine Defoe
Another popular Premier League player who saw a lot of action off the bench was Jermain Defoe. He was substituted 149 times during his playing days.
Best known for his time with Tottenham in the Premier League, Defoe was a very handy goalscorer, but interestingly never broke the 20-goal mark in a Premier League season.
Defoe ended his career with 227 goals in 624 matches and 20 goals in 57 appearances for England.
Shane Long
Former Southampton striker Shane Long wasn't unfamiliar with being called upon from the bench. Only once in his EPL career did Long manage to break into double figures for goals in a single season.
Long, who left the Saints at the end of the 2021/22 season, was always a very hard-working player at the top level, just not prolific, which perhaps suggests why he racked up more than 150 appearances from the bench.
Shola Ameobi
A popular figure during his days at Newcastle was Shola Ameobi. The former Nigerian international made his debut in the Premier League for the Magpies in the 2000/21 campaign.
He spent fourteen seasons with them, even sticking with them when they were relegated in 2009.
Ameobi wasn't a prolific scorer either, but proved to be a handy player to come off the bench for impact purposes.
Most of his prime playing years were when the club had other superstar forwards like Alan Shearer and Michael Owen, so Ameobi did struggle for starting appearances. He was substituted onto the pitch 142 times.
