A 1-0 Boxing Day win against Southampton isn’t a momentous occasion for most players, but it marked a very special milestone for long-serving Hammers defender Aaron Cresswell. The game was his 300th Premier League appearance and was marked by a celebration with his team, including the presentation of a Premier League award and a signed shirt from his teammates.
The Reliable Redbridge-via-Merseyside Mainstay
Cresswell has been a player who has always put a shift in for those 300 plus games in claret and blue. The club describe him as ‘popular, committed and reliable’ – and it’s say to say those attributes have been realised over the past eleven seasons. As well as playing 300 times in the Premier League, he also passed the milestone of playing 350 games for West Ham in all competition – two notable and very much appreciated accolades to reach.
It’s not unheard of for a player to make 300 appearances in the Premier League. Most players want to play in the ‘best league in the world’ for as long as possible – or at least they did before the Saudi League’s seemingly bottomless bank account took an interest in the beautiful game. Still, there are 155 players who’ve made more than 300 appearances in the Premier League since it came into existence in 1992. This list includes some of Aaron Cresswell’s current and former teammates, with Łukasz Fabiański (375 appearances), James Ward-Prowse (390) and Craig Dawson (303) also on the list.
In fact, there’s an incredible 30 West Ham alumni on the all-time appearances list – and naming them all poses quite the pub-quiz head scratcher. But where Aaron Cresswell stands out from the pack isn’t really when it comes to appearances alone, or red cards, or tackles – it’s when it comes to loyalty and taking the role at the football club beyond the pitch and into being a vital part of the club’s community.
Immediate Impact and Record-Breaking Stats
Aaron Cresswell is one of very few players on that lengthy list to have played every one of his 300 plus games for the same football club, little old West Ham United. As of the end of this season the likeable defender will have – theoretically – earned himself a testimonial in east London, a truly rare feat in the modern game. So how has our incredibly loyal Merseyside left back done throughout his time at West Ham, and what does the future hold for the veteran defender?
Aaron made an immediate impact in his first season at West Ham after signing from Ipswich for £3.5million, playing in and starting every single Premier League game for West Ham that season. He won both the Players’ Player of the Year and West Ham’s Hammer of the Year, playing 42 games and scoring two goals. He’s since gone on to score a further nine goals in nine years – not too shabby for a defender.
His assists have also helped West Ham rack up the goals, especially in the 2020-21 season, when he registered eight, which was the most for any Premier League defender that year, and a record for Cresswell in claret and blue. That same season, together with Vladimir Coufal, they set a record for the ‘most assists for a full-back pairing’ in the season. He’s also been incredibly valuable at the back, particularly with his eight clean sheets in 28 games in the 2022/3 season and 12 in 42 in the 2021/22 season. In our last year at the Boleyn Ground, he played in an incredible 47 games to ensure our final season there was one to remember. He also played in the bulk of our Europa League and Europa Conference League games during our recent European heyday, where his impact was mostly positive.
European Heartbreak and Disciplinary Struggles
On that note, not everything has gone swimmingly for Aaron Cresswell during his lengthy time in claret and blue – and his questionable disciplinary record has cost West Ham dear in recent years. He’s an avid collector of yellow cards, collecting 35 of them in his 304 Premier League appearances. After a four month absence due to injury in 2016 he received two cards within a minute on his return to action, and was subsequently dismissed.
In April 2022 Aaron was given a straight red card during a vital UEFA Europa League first-leg match against Lyon for a challenge on Moussa Dembélé. Dembélé then gave a sneaky wink to the cameras after Cresswell was given his marching orders, confirming for fans what they had already seen in the challenge – that Dembélé was using deceit to get Cresswell out of the game. While you’d be harsh to still be holding that against Cresswell, what you could hold against him was his complete and utter inability to learn from the experience.
In his next UEFA Europa League game, a crucial semi-final match second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt, Cresswell decided again on an early bath – this time getting sent off in just the 19th minute of the game, taking down Jens Petter Hauge and earning a straight red card. This time West Ham did not have a ‘leg’ to stand on, and crashed out of the Europa League, losing 3-1 on aggregate after 70 minutes of playing with just 10 men.
Redemption and the Potter Renaissance
Fortunately for Cresswell, West Ham losing the Europa League did, in a roundabout way, lead to West Ham winning the Europa Conference League the following season – a career highlight for Cresswell to be able to lift silverware with the club he’d been playing for since 2014. He played in eight matches in the run up to securing West Ham’s first major trophy in 43 years.
In the 2023-24 season we stopped seeing so much of Cresswell on the pitch, as he went from making 30-40+ appearances a season down to just 18. It wasn’t just injuries; he just wasn’t being selected. Since the arrival of new manager Graham Potter, Cresswell is enjoying a renaissance of sorts, becoming a more common name on the team sheet and playing some decent football – not an easy thing to do in a team that’s become accustomed to losing.
A Leader Off the Pitch
Cresswell’s loyalty and dedication isn’t something that’s only for his time on the pitch. During his lengthy tenure at the club, he’s been a leader off the pitch as well, being incredibly involved in the club’s community and charity outreach work. He’s also vital in the dressing room, and understands his role as an experienced member of the senior squad as well as a sometimes captain of the club.
‘If I can do anything off the field to help the boys and try and get them in the right frame of mind as well, I’ll be positive and do what I can,’ said Cresswell, in an interview with West Ham as he was recognised for his achievement. You can see a lot of influence in Cresswell’s career from his time playing with Mark Noble, another West Ham representative in the 300 appearance club. Both are the last of a dying breed in terms of devotion and loyalty and spending their career building a home within a club and its fans.
Riding On into 2025
It’s hard to tell what the future holds for Cresswell. No one plays football forever, as much as they wish they could, and his time in a claret and blue shirt is likely shifting through the sands of time. We only have Cresswell contracted at our club until June 2025, but seeing him put the effort in on the pitch under new manager Potter suggests there could be new life in the old dog yet.
‘I’m into my eleventh season at the Club now, which is pretty mad. I’ve loved every minute of it here, and I’m excited to see what else we can achieve,’ says Cresswell as he reflected on his time at the club. ‘I’m enjoying my time. I don’t know when it’s going to finish, but let’s keep riding on.’
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