Steven Gerrard didn't hesitate when asked to pick between Frank Lampard, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira

Steven Gerrard didn’t hesitate when asked to choose between Premier League legends Frank Lampard, Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane.

Gerrard, 45, is arguably one of the greatest players to have played in the Premier League and is held in high regard by icons such as Kaka and Zinedine Zidane.

Of course, fans often debate who was the best of Lampard, Gerrard and Manchester United legend Paul Scholes. And in reality, the answer depends on which team you favour and what style of play impresses you.

However, several gifted midfielders graced the Premier League during the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s, namely Vieira and Keane, who captained Arsenal and Manchester United when the clubs were both going for the title under Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson.

Lampard then turned into a pivotal player for Chelsea, who began mopping up trophies following Roman Abramovich’s 2003 takeover.

But who did Gerrard consider to be out of Lampard, Vieira and Keane?

Steven Gerrard and Patrick Vieira in 2002 (Credit:Getty)

While taking part in a recent fan Q&A session, Gerrard was asked to make his choice.

“I think to complement my game, to make me better, the one that suits my game better to play with would be Roy Keane,” Gerrard said.

“They’re all fantastic players… all high quality, but Frank very similar [to me].”

He added: “Vieira [had] similarities as well as a little bit. But he [Keane] is more like Dietmar Hamann, [Javier] Mascherano and [would] help me get forward.”

And although Keane has been complimentary about Gerrard in the past, he snubbed him when naming the toughest opponent he faced during his career.

"I'm not going to say Vieira, no, truthfully I'd say Zidane would probably be the toughest opponent," Keane told ITV Sport earlier in 2025.

Steven Gerrard and Roy Keane were fierce competitors (Credit:Getty)

But in another interview for the Overlap, he explained how when “players come along like Patrick, they will bring the best out of you”.

And despite choosing Keane when recently asked to compare him to Lampard and Vieira, it was another player who Gerrard named as his toughest opponent.

“I have often come up against Claude Makelele,” Gerrard told the Mail in 2008.

“He's always marked me closely and always done a decent job.

“He may be small, but he's strong and quick and a really difficult player to play against. He would be my number one choice.”

But he was quick to name Keane as the runner-up.

“I played against him early in my career, and he was the best around at that time,” Gerrard added.

“He was fitter and stronger than me at that time, and the impact he had on Manchester United was a real eye-opener.”

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