Feature

My favourite match: Chris Kirkland

20 Feb 2018

Former Wigan goalkeeper recalls day his side secured safety, picking a 2-0 win at Aston Villa as his best encounter out of 10,000

To celebrate Brighton & Hove Albion v West Ham United being the 10,000th Premier League match, we asked past players to name their favourite.

Chris Kirkland

Chris Kirkland may have played 25 PL matches for Liverpool, battling for the top spots in the table, but his favourite match came in a relegation battle with Wigan Athletic.

Steve Bruce’s Latics travelled to Aston Villa on the penultimate weekend of the 2007/08 season, requiring a win to secure safety. Their final match would be against Manchester United so the stakes were high.

“There were a lot of nerves going into it,” said Kirkland. “Villa were doing well at the time, pushing for Europe. We were under the cosh a little bit.”

Nonetheless, Kirkland kept a clean sheet, and Antonio Valencia scored twice at the other end to earn an invaluable 2-0 win.

“Antonio was a great player and his two finishes were brilliant,” says Kirkland. “The team spirit was the biggest thing the manager created.”