25. Emmanuel Adebayor

‘Ade’ enjoyed his best season as a professional footballer in 2007/8. He hit 30 goals in 48 appearances and carried the attack while Robin van Persie and Eduardo were injured.

The Togolese targetman has every attribute - pace, skill, strength and aerial ability - plus a tremendous work-rate. There were many great goals to choose from but the stand-out strikes were the volleys at Tottenham and Newcastle.

However Emmanuel is not only spectacular but consistent as well. Between last December and early February he scored in nine consecutive games for Arsenal, hitting the net 12 times in total. Just after that run he also ended an odd anomaly of not having scored in the Champions League. That goal came in the final seconds at Milan.

That was another example of Emmanuel’s handy knack of scoring big goals in big games. But then we could have predicted that after he notched just 21 minutes into his debut in January 2006 after moving from Monaco.

He received a Champions League runners-up medal in 2004 with the French side but started his career as a 17-year-old with Metz. Emmanuel has twice been nominated as African Footballer of the Year and his 11 goals for Togo in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup was the best on his continent.

He finished third in Arsenal.com's Player of the Season poll last term.

 

MY YEAR

October

Emmanuel enjoyed an explosive October. The Togolese fired Arsenal into a 10th-minute lead against Fenerbahce in Istanbul on the 21st before emerging from the bench to register an assist and a goal against West Ham five days later. In October’s final fixture, the 4-4 draw with Tottenham, Adebayor’s 64th minute strike moved him joint level with Alan Sunderland and Robert Pires as top goalscorer against Tottenham with eight goals.

September

Emmanuel enjoyed a truly sizzling September as he hit five goals in five games, reaching and surpassing his 50 Arsenal goal milestone in the process. He started the month as he meant to go on with a treble at Ewood Park, a place where big teams often struggle. The Togolese forward nodded his first on the stroke of half-time, slid home a 78th-minute penalty and slotted home his third in stoppage time. The striker also bagged a brace in the month’s final fixture, a 4-0 Champions League victory over Porto on Tuesday 30th.

August

Adebayor needed just one game to open his account for 2008/09, the striker adding the second goal in Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over FC Twente in Arnhem. One goal was bad enough for the Dutch side but Adebayor’s strike made the deficit effectively insurmountable. The 24-year-old did not manage to add to his tally after that, turning from goal-scorer to provider with two assists in Arsenal’s final game of August against Newcastle.

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