25 years ago was the last instance when a Premier League team fielded a completely English lineup

Currently, globalization stands as an entrenched phenomenon across all facets of life, including football. Today marks precisely 25 years since a Premier League team last fielded a lineup comprised entirely of English players.

On February 27, 1999, Aston Villa hosted Coventry in Birmingham, succumbing to their opponent with a score of 1:4. In that match, Aston Villa's starting lineup consisted of 11 footballers holding English passports. Three substitutes who entered the fray were also Englishmen.

In the final round of the 2005/06 Premier League season, Middlesbrough came close to replicating this feat when Steve McClaren fielded 11 Englishmen against Fulham. However, James Morrison ultimately opted to represent Scotland on the international stage, nullifying this statistic.

Later, in 2021, Burnley came closest to achieving this result. In a match against Tottenham, Sean Dyche deployed 10 Englishmen, with the lone foreigner being Czech Republic forward Matej Vydra.

Interestingly, in the same year 1999, Chelsea became the first club to field 11 foreigners in a Premier League match. Under Gianluca Vialli's management, the team defeated Southampton without a single English player in the lineup.