In the past two decades, the Premier League has been blessed with immense talent, especially in the striking position.
The likes of Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry… the list is endless. However, compare two greats to rule London at Arsenal and Chelsea with Robin Van Persie and Didier Drogba, who comes out on top?
A recent poll favours the former Chelsea striker with a staggering 71% believing that Drogba outclasses Van Persie during their time in England.
This poll has had over 161k votes which shows that fans have shown their love to Drogba after the remarkable career he had at Stamford Bridge.
Van Persie managed to win the League title just once and that came after he eventually left a faltering Arsenal to move up north to the red side of Manchester. Drogba, however, managed to win four League titles during his spell at Chelsea, with his last one in 2015 after returning for a brief one year spell.
Overall, from looking at the careers the two players had, you’d have to take Drogba. Van Persie struggled with injuries throughout his career and struggled to play a full season, but thrived during his first season at Manchester United.
Both were excellent strikers for their clubs and were usually called match-winners as they were the players who turned up when their sides needed it most.
Also, with Drogba, he was like a fine wine who got better with age as the older he was getting, the ability improved year after year.
Van Persie did manage to outscore the Ivorian in the Premier League notching up 144 goals to Drogba’s 104. But, Drogba offered a lot to his team and contributed with 54 assists to the Dutchman’s 53 and managed this in 26 fewer games.
Let’s not mention Drogba won the Champions League all by himself in his later years at Chelsea.
Van Persie was unsuccessful to do so, but did win trophies which rectify his great career. Over their careers, Drogba was by far the better player. Big, powerful and a big game player where he was known as the ‘Cup final’ king.