Tottenham are fast becoming the best team in North London, as Arsene Wenger sets about taking
north London rivals Arsenal on a downward spiral. Spurs meanwhile have seen their league position
improve over the last few years and if manager Mauricio Pochettino can keep hold of the core of the
squad then a Premier League title is certainly possible in the near future.
While Arsenal failed to even make it into the Champions League this season, Spurs have dominated
their group, a group which features defending champions Real Madrid and their form has already
seen the Champions League odds change to give them a more favourable chance of winning the
competition.
The North London club currently lie in third place in the Premier League and will be hoping that star
striker Harry Kane can keep up his rich vein of form to help them climb further up the table. If Kane
remains at Spurs, it is expected that he will become the Spurs player with the most Premier League
appearances and we have taken a look at the ten players with the most number of Premier League
appearances for Spurs.
Republic of Ireland defender Stephen Carr kicks off our list in 10 th place. The Dublin born right back
made 377 Premier League appearances, with 226 of those being made during his 11 season spell at
the club. Carr was part of the League Cup winning squad of 1999, which was his only honour while
playing in North London.
Teddy Sheringham played for 8 English teams throughout his 25 year football career. The striker had
two spells at Tottenham, the first of which lasted 5 years before making the move to Manchester
United where he played a key role in the historic treble winning squad. 2 years after making history
with United he returned to Spurs and ended up with 236 Premier League appearances for
Tottenham. Playing for Nottingham Forest, Spurs, United, Portsmouth and West Ham, the England
striker managed 418 appearances in England’s top flight.
Former Tottenham captain Michael Dawson made a surprise switch to Hull City back in 2014 and has
since gone on to reach 286 Premier League appearances. For Spurs though, the English centre back
managed 236 appearances, the same as Teddy Sheringham. Although Dawson played a role in
helping Spurs reach the final of the 2007/08 League Cup, there was no place for him in the squad
that won the match against Chelsea 2-1 in extra time.
Robbie Keane spent 9 seasons at Tottenham in which he made 238 appearances. The Irish striker
initially spent 6 seasons at White Hart Lane before making a switch to Premier League rivals
Liverpool. The move didn’t work out and he returned to Spurs two years later. The move to Liverpool
saw Keane lose his magic and he never quite regained it, despite loans to Celtic and West Ham.
Ian Walker is the only goalkeeper on the list and made 240 Premier League appearances for the
Lilywhites between 1992 and 2001. Despite signing for both Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers
after Tottenham, he only made a further 72 Premier League appearances, all of which were made at
Leicester.
Before Sol Campbell was labelled a Judas by the Spurs faithful, he made 255 Premier League
appearances for the club. After betraying the club for Arsenal in 2001 he went on to play in another
248 Premier League games for Arsenal, Portsmouth and Newcastle United. Despite playing more
Premier League matches for Spurs than all three other clubs put together, he is still regarded poorly
by the Spurs fans.
Aaron Lennon has played 266 of his 330 Premier League appearances for Spurs and was part of the
team that won the 2007/08 League Cup and unlike Michael Dawson, Lennon did play in the match,
helping the club to win 2-1 against Chelsea. With Tottenham’s squad being improved by the
manager, Lennon found opportunities harder to come by. He was loaned to Everton in January 2015
and made the move permanent in September 2015.
Ledley King is unfortunate to be only third on this list, having made 268 appearances over the span
of 14 seasons. Regarded as one of the best English defenders when he was younger, a knee injury in
2006 would change his whole career. He only played all 38 games in a Premier League season once,
in the 2004/05 season and after the injury he would never again play 25 league games. Despite the
injuries he did manage to captain the Spurs team in the 2007/08 League Cup final victory over
Chelsea.
Jermain Defoe has scored the second highest number of Premier League goals for Tottenham,
behind Teddy Sheringham however Defoe has made 40 more league appearances for the club with
276. He has had three spells at the club, the first starting in the 2003/04 season following a
controversial transfer from rivals West Ham United. His first spell ended in January 2008 when he
joined Portsmouth, although it would be a year before he would return back to the club in January
2009. After agreeing a move to Toronto in January 2014 he was immediately loaned back to the club
and made his final 2 league appearances for the club.
Darren Anderton was another player who suffered from injuries which prevented him from making
more Premier League appearances for the Lilywhites. Nicknamed “Sicknote” Anderton made 299
league appearances over the course of 12 seasons. The England manager Glenn Hoddle ahead of the
1998 World Cup in which England would lose out to Argentina on penalties believed that Anderton
was just as good at crossing the ball as David Beckham, but was a better defender. Just imagine what
could have been if it weren’t for the injuries…