Barry’s Records By The Numbers

Gareth Barry set a new Premier League appearance record as he took to the pitch for West Bromwich Albion on Monday night in the tie against Arsenal.

Having equalled Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs’ record of 632, in the defeat to Arsenal he became the all time leading appearance maker following the rebrand of the top flight, setting a record of 633 games with plenty more to follow this season and in the year’s ahead as he has a couple of seasons left in him at least.

Barry now holds four Premier League records, although the former England man won’t like one of them – he holds the record for the most bookings as well.

The bulk of Barry’s Premier League appearances came during his spell with Aston Villa, where he made 365 appearances and his time at Villa Park saw him at his most productive in terms of goals (41) and assists (41).

Other telling statistics from his 19 year long career so far show that he’s faced Manchester United the most, featuring in 35 games, but they are also the side he’s lost the most matches to with 32 defeats.

At the opposite end of the scale, Barry has taken the most victories (15) over Newcastle United and Middlesbrough and Bolton Wanderers have been happy oppositions when it comes to goals (5) and assists (4) respectively.

Having made his debut for Aston Villa in their game against Sheffield Wednesday back on May 2, 1998 he was aged only 17 years and 67 days old and so far, 17 players not born back then have now made Premier League debuts of their own – including four of his current West Bromwich Albion teammates.

Those teammates being Jonathan Leko, Rakeem Harper, Tyler Roberts and Sam Field.