The Premier League, or EPL as many Aussies may know it, is no stranger to players from Down Under.
In this past decade, the likes of Maty Ryan and Aaron Mooy were playing regularly in the English top-flight, and prior to that, Mark Schwarzer, Mark Viduka and Tim Cahill became cult heroes across England.
The pool of Aussies in England has shrunk in recent times, but there is still an Australian managing one of the biggest clubs in the league, and two Aussies set to play a key role in one of the newly promoted sides.
The Sporting News looks at the Australians past and present who have featured in the Premier League, and some of the key storylines surrounding our Aussies for the 2024-25 season.
MORE: 2024-25 Premier League schedule | Which teams are in the Premier League this season?
World class Australian manager Ange Postecoglou will be taking charge of his second season at Tottenham Hotspur looking to improve on a positive fifth placed finish in his first season.
Postecoglou impressed with his management and attacking style of play, but a tough end of the season means he will have to start strong in 2024-25.
Joe Gauci was a mid-season signing for Aston Villa last season, and he is currently deputy to Emiliano Martinez in goal, though is yet to make a senior appearance for the side.
Two Aussies will be joining the Premier League after being promoted with Ipswich Town, with Cameron Burgess and Massimo Luongo playing a key role in returning the Tractor Boys to the Premier League for the first time in over 20 years.
Youngsters Cameron Peupion and Garang Kuol are on the books of Brighton and Newcastle respectively, but are well on the periphery of their club sides.
Player | Club | Position | Games | Goals |
---|---|---|---|---|
Joe Gauci | Aston Villa | Goalkeeper | 0 | 0 |
Cameron Burgess | Ipswich Town | Defender | 2 | 0 |
Massimo Luongo | Ipswich Town | Midfielder | 4 | 0 |
Cameron Peupion | Brighton & Hove Albion | Midfielder | 0 | 0 |
Garang Kuol | Newcastle United | Forward | 0 | 0 |
Here is how our Aussie contingent is travelling in the Premier League this season:
Tottenham’s Jekyll and Hyde form in the league has continued as they fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.
A mistake from Micky van de Ven allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to give Palace the lead after a sublime Ebere Eze assist in a first half where Spurs were well off the pace.
Palace had chances to score more in the first half through Santiago Munoz and Maxence Lacroix, though Tottenham also hit the post.
Eze had the ball in the back of the net in the second half though the goal was quickly chalked off for offside, before he had another chance to score that was denied by Guglielmo Vicario.
In truth the score could have been more than 1-0 as Palace were wasteful, but Spurs lacked firepower and ultimately gave the hosts their first win of the season, and dropped them to eighth with four wins and four losses in the league.
After the match, Postecoglou was tetchy at the suggestion fans were unhappy with the result and inconsistent league form.
“I’d be very surprised if they were happy,” he told BBC Sport. “Why would I be happy? Is there a question there? Why would I be happy about today? The supporters are unhappy, the players are unhappy, I’m unhappy. I think that’s a fair assessment.”
The honeymoon period for Ipswich in their return to the Premier League seems to have ended, with the newly promoted side now in the relegation zone and without a win this season.
They have secured four draws to show they can be more than competitive, but two losses in a row have stalled momentum and sowed the seeds of doubt; surrendering a 2-0 lead to lose 4-3 at Brentford was particularly galling.
A bright spot in this time is Socceroo Cameron Burgess making his debut at the heart of defence in the home match against Everton two weeks ago, and he has since started again in the defeat to Brentford.
It is less happy news for fellow Aussie Massimo Luongo, who has been kept out since before the last international break due to injury.
It has been a tough time on Tyneside for Australia’s wonderkid Garang Kuol.
His move to Newcastle came with much fanfare Down Under, but two underwhelming loan spells in Scotland and the Netherlands leaves his place in the team in doubt.
Having featured sparingly in pre-season, it was thought he would go out on loan, but he remained at the club after deadline day, and the reasoning behind the decision has become clear.
It was confirmed last week that Kuol had suffered a grade three tear to his right quad, with the injury torpedoing any chance of a late loan move to get regular game time.
Instead, with a recovery time of 2-3 months predicted, he will now need to wait until January at the earliest to get much needed game time.
Only two Australians have ever officially won a Premier League title.
Robbie Slater was the first when he was part of the Blackburn Rovers side that finished first in 1994-95.
The Aussie midfielder featured 18 times for Blackburn that season as they edged Manchester United by a single point.
Mark Bosnich was the next and to date last Australian to be crowned a Premier League champion.
The goalkeeper managed the feat with Manchester United in 1999-2000 and was Alex Ferguson’s first-choice shot-stopper as the Red Devils comfortably claimed the league title.
Mark Schwarzer was also part of the Chelsea squad that won the title in 2014-15; whilst he didn’t play enough games to initially receive a winners medal, manager Jose Mourinho ensured he would receive a replica winners medal.
While there’s been a shortage of Australian players recently, the Premier League has had a number of Aussies feature in years gone by.
To date, 55 players with Australian citizenship have graced the competition with a full host of clubs represented.
The only place fans in Australia can watch the Premier League is on Optus Sport.
The streaming service will host every match of the 2024-25 season live and on-demand, whilst also having pre-match and post-match analysis and a host of other shows covering all the angles of the Premier League.
If you are not a customer or do not have access to Optus Sport in your location, you can use NordVPN; get up to 69% off NordVPN’s 2-year plans + 3 months extra.