Liverpool maintained their impressive 100% winning start to the new Premier League season over the weekend after Jurgen Klopp ended his Wembley curse by overseeing a 2-1 victory against Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham.
The Reds now have five wins from five top-flight matches, a tally they will be confident of extending to six victories when they face Southampton next weekend.
Stuart Pearce has since showered one Liverpool player in praise, telling talkSPORT that he believes James Milner - with whom he managed at England U21 level - is the best ‘pound for pound’ player in Premier League history.
“There’s a saying in boxing on who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world," said Pearce.
“I think Milner is the best pound-for-pound footballer in the Premier League potentially there has been.
“I don’t think he’s been the best footballer by a million miles but you should throw everything into the mix like professionalism.
“He’s 32-years-old now and he’s ridiculously low maintenance and I’ve never seen one detrimental story about Milner in the papers.
“He’s probably run more than any player that’s taken to the pitch over those last 16 years, he’s played over 130 games at all age groups for the England national team.
“At one stage Manchester City thought he was surplus to requirements and he went to Liverpool. Then all of a sudden he plays a season at left-back for Liverpool and he’s fantastic there!
“You just can’t keep him down. He will not go under.”
The 2-1 victory over Spurs was Milner's 490th Premier League match, meaning he just needs 10 more games to propel his tally to the landmark 500, which you’d expect him to reach at some point this season.
Milner made his top-flight debut 16 years ago in November 2002 for Leeds United when he was just 16-years-old. The following month he became the youngest player to score in the Premier League - at 16 years and 356 days - although this record has since been broken by James Vaughan.
The 32-year-old would go on to play for the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa and Man City, winning a couple of Premier League titles, the FA Cup, League Cup and the Community Shield, before switching over to Liverpool in the summer of 2015.
Do you agree with Pearce’s view? Leave your comments below.
