Ranking the seven best seasons by Americans in Premier League history: Dempsey, Pulisic…

More than 50 American players have left the United States to take up the challenge of playing Premier League football during their careers.

Giovanni Reyna became the latest in January, swapping Borussia Dortmund for Nottingham Forest and following in the footsteps of his father, Claudio, who played for Manchester City and Sunderland in the English top flight.

Some of the US imports have had very successful times of it in England.

Here, TEAMtalk rates the seven best single-season performances by Americans in the Premier League.

1. Clint Dempsey – 2011/12

Arguably the most famous of America’s footballing sons to take on England, Dempsey spent eight seasons in the Premier League between 2006/07 and 2013/14, and the 2011/12 season was his most explosive.

The forward bagged 17 goals alongside seven assists as his Fulham side finished ninth in the league. Only Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero outscored Dempsey.

If it was not for an injury keeping him out of the final game of the season, the forward would have missed just five league minutes throughout the entire campaign, as he was brought off in the dying embers of a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United.

His best league performance of the season was a hat-trick in a commanding 5-2 victory over Newcastle United. Dempsey directly contributed to more than one goal in five separate games during the campaign.

2. Tim Howard – 2013/14

Howard, in a similar vein to Dempsey, finished his Premier League career as a very experienced and accomplished player, having racked up 399 appearances between Everton and Manchester United. That included 132 clean sheets, and winners medals in both the FA Cup and League Cup.

The Toffees enjoyed the American’s services for the longer period of his two English clubs, and he put one a goalkeeping clinic in the 2013/14 season for them, when he kept 15 Premier League clean sheets.

Howard was one clean sheet shy of golden glove winners Petr Cech and Wojciech Szczesny that term, and stopped his opponents from scoring in more than 40 per cent of games.

That helped Everton to fifth in the league, a position they had not finished in for five years prior, and have not gotten close to since.

3. Clint Dempsey – 2010/11

In all fairness, Dempsey could probably feature on this list more as a result of his consistent performances throughout his time in England, but the 2010/11 season was not far from his best, as he warmed up to explode the following term.

The 2010/11 Premier League season saw him score 12 goals and provide three assists, with Fulham finishing eighth, one position below their highest top-flight finish ever.

A special mention also must go to the 2009/10 season, in which the Cottagers reached the final of the Europa League, where they were heartbreakingly beaten by Atletico Madrid.

4. Christian Pulisic – 2019/20

Pulisic immediately showed why Chelsea paid £58million to snap him up from Borussia Dortmund in 2019. Indeed, within his first few months in the Blues’ squad, the American registered his first hat-trick, in a 4-2 win over Burnley. He then scored in both of the following two games.

An injury kept Pulisic sidelined for most of January and February, and the league was then suspended due to Covid-19 in March, allowing the winger to get fit by the time things resumed in June.

He went on a red-hot streak once the league was back underway, scoring in wins over Aston Villa and Manchester City in the first two games. In fact, in the space of nine matches after the resumption, Pulisic only failed to directly contribute to a goal in one.

His explosive form saw him tear Liverpool’s defence to shreds in a mesmerising 31-minute cameo during the penultimate game of the season, in which he assisted his side’s second goal and scored their third.

Pulisic’s final tally that season was nine goals and six assists in 25 Premier League games – the best return of his career in any league.

5. Brad Friedel – 2009/10

America has provided the Premier League with a high volume of fantastic goalkeepers, and only two stoppers have played more games in the English top flight than Friedel (450).

That included 132 clean sheets, a tally which was added to most in the 2009/10 season, when he kept opposing sides at bay in 15 matches during the 38-game campaign. He did not miss a minute for Aston Villa that term.

Friedel kept four consecutive clean sheets on two separate occasions that season, firstly in a run of games against Hull, Manchester United, Sunderland and Stoke, and then against West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham and Fulham. Only two games split the two goalless runs against Villa.

The Midlands outfit finished sixth in the league that season and only the top two sides – Chelsea and United – conceded fewer goals.

6. Brad Guzan – 2013/14

Another American import in the goalkeeper position who also played for Aston Villa, Guzan’s best season was very useful in different circumstances to Friedel’s.

Villa were eventually relegated from the Premier League in 2015/16, with an embarrassingly low 17 points, and the drop to the Championship could have come sooner if not for Friedel and his defence in the seasons leading up to then.

While Villa conceded 61 league goals in the 2013/14 season – they shipped four goals on four separate occasions – and only the three relegated sides conceded more, the games in which they did not let any goals in were invaluable.

Guzan kept clean sheets in nine games as Villa survived by five points – as such, the five 0-0 draws alone were enough to keep them afloat.

Over the course of the season, the American stopper kept three clean sheets in the six games against sides who were relegated.

7. Geoff Cameron – 2013/14

Cameron racked up 186 appearances for Stoke during his six seasons in the Premier League, and the highest amount came in the 2013/14 season, the Potters’ joint-best ever finish since the rebrand to the Premier League.

The defender played in all but one game in his side’s league campaign, and only failed to complete 90 minutes in one of those.

Cameron scored both of his Stoke goals that season, and also provided two assists.

All but one of his goal contributions helped his side to wins, as they eventually finished ninth in the league, a position they occupied for three successive seasons, all of which Cameron played in.

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