James Milner has established a remarkable new Premier League appearance record when playing in his 654th game in England’s top flight.
The 40-year-old Milner surpassed the landmark set by Gareth Barry when he was named in the starting line-up for Brighton at Brentford on Saturday — and he celebrated his big day with a 2-0 win at the Gtech Community Stadium.
“I feel like I can still contribute minutes. I’ve been a bit frustrated this year, maybe not getting the minutes, but it’s a fine balance because of course we have to develop players as well and we want to win,” Milner said.
“Hopefully I’ve proved the last few games that I can still contribute on the pitch.”
Milner made his league debut as a 16-year-old for Leeds in 2002, coming on as a substitute in a 4-3 win against West Ham.
In a much-travelled career, he was a serial trophy-winner with Manchester City and Liverpool. Across his time with those two clubs he won a full set of titles including three Premier Leagues, the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
Milner has been at Brighton since 2023 and even in the twilight stage of his career has made 18 appearances this season.
Barry’s record had stood since he played his last Premier League game for West Brom against Huddersfield in 2018. He played for two more seasons in the second-tier Championship.
Milner equalled Barry’s record when coming on as a substitute for Brighton against Aston Villa on February 11.
He is not putting any limits on how much longer he can go on for.
“When you get older things can change quickly,” he said. “With the injury I had last season I couldn’t lift my foot for six months. I’ll keep pushing, let’s see where that takes us.”
Manchester City have cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League to just two points with a 2-1 win against Newcastle United.
City’s victory at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night piles the pressure on the Gunners ahead of Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham.
Nico O’Reilly scored both goals in the first half, either side of a deflected Lewis Hall strike, and extended City’s unbeaten run in the league to five.
Pep Guardiola’s team also moved further clear of second-placed Aston Villa, who drew 1-1 with Leeds United.
City are the team keeping the heat on Arsenal, who have stumbled in recent weeks with only two wins in their last seven.
Villa’s title challenge was hit after being held by relegation-fighting Leeds.
It took an 88th-minute equaliser from substitute Tammy Abraham to rescue a point for the home side.
“We have 51 points … There are two sides — one is that we lost two points, or that we won one point,” Villa boss Unai Emery said.
Villa’s draw leaves them seven points behind Arsenal and continued their shaky recent form of just one win in four in the league.
It could have been worse after Aton Stach put Leeds, now seven points clear of safety, ahead from a 31st-minute free kick.
Abraham, a January signing from Besiktas, came on in the 75th and levelled from close range for his first Premier League goal since moving to Villa Park.
Chelsea were also held to a 1-1 draw by another team battling for survival — Burnley.
Zian Flemming scored in the 93rd minute at Stamford Bridge to salvage a point for the second-last visitors.
Joao Pedro’s goal in the fourth looked like being enough for the hosts, who went down to 10 men when Wesley Fofana was sent off in the 72nd.
“You need to be ruthless in this league because if you don’t defend set plays well then you get punished,” Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior said.
The point moved Chelsea up to fourth — above Manchester United on goal difference. But the race for Champions League qualification could be even tighter by the end of the weekend with Liverpool now having the chance to move level on points with the Blues if they beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
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