James Milner has now made more Premier League appearances than any other player in the competition's 34-year history.

Milner played his 654th game in the competition on Saturday, starting for Brighton against Brentford and being withdrawn in the final minute of the 90 as the Seagulls won 2-0.

In the process, he overhauled a record previously set by Gareth Barry, whose final Premier League appearance came for West Brom against Huddersfield Town in February 2018.

Milner matched Barry's tally of 653 outings in Brighton's defeat to Aston Villa on February 11.

To mark Milner's achievement, we delve into the key Opta insights behind his Premier League career with Leeds United, Newcastle United, Villa, Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton.

Where it all began

When Milner made his Premier League debut on November 11, 2002, replacing Jason Wilcox as an 85th-minute substitute during Leeds United's 4-3 victory at West Ham, the football landscape was very different. 

Terry Venables was Milner's manager at Leeds, his current boss Fabian Hurzeler was nine years old, and his future club Brighton were heading for relegation from the second tier. 

Milner's first 13 Premier League appearances came from the bench, and he actually got his first two goals in the competition (against Sunderland and Chelsea in December 2002) before making his first start, which also came against West Ham in February 2003.

He made 48 Premier League appearances, scoring five goals, for Leeds before they were relegated in 2003-04, prompting him to join Newcastle in a £5m deal.

Milner registered a further 94 outings for the Magpies, netting six goals and assisting eight, before leaving for Villa, the first of three clubs he represented at least 100 times in the competition (Villa 100, Manchester City 147, Liverpool 230). 

He then won his first two Premier League titles with City in 2011-12 and 2013-14, but he only made 17 and 12 starts for those title-winning sides, respectively.

Having had his fill of glory at City, Milner left as a free agent in 2015, and headed to Merseyside in search of more minutes.

Milner's Mersey paradise

Milner made more appearances (230), more starts (135), scored more goals (19) and tallied more minutes (12,852) for Liverpool than any of his other Premier League clubs.

Signed by Brendan Rodgers, Milner only played under the Northern Irishman eight times, with his remaining 222 outings for the club coming under Jurgen Klopp.

During Milner's time at Liverpool, between June 2015 and June 2023, only Roberto Firmino (256) played in more Premier League matches for the Reds. 

In that time, Milner was Liverpool's most-used substitute in the Premier League, coming off the bench 95 times overall. Milner also came off the bench in all three of Liverpool's major final victories during that time (2019 Champions League, 2022 EFL Cup and FA Cup).

But Milner still played a significant role in the Reds' success. He ranked seventh among all Liverpool players for Premier League goal involvements during his stint (45 – 19 goals, 26 assists), and was sixth for chances created (254).

Milner appeared 22 times and played a total of 926 minutes during Liverpool's 2019-20 title-winning campaign, scoring both his goals against Leicester City, including a 95th-minute winner in the home fixture.

How Milner stacks up against other stalwarts

Milner has made 16 Premier League appearances this season, and though all but three of those have come from the bench, that is more than he made in either of his first two campaigns with Brighton (15 in 2023-24 and four in 2024-25).

The 40-year-old may stand alone in the Premier League's appearance charts, but how does he stack up against other competition stalwarts when it comes to other metrics?

Though Barry has lost his appearance record, the former midfielder has still played the most Premier League minutes of any player (54,439).

David James is the only other player in the 50,000 club (51,299), but three more outfielders round out the top five – Frank Lampard (48,869), Ryan Giggs (46,437) and the late Gary Speed (46,318).

Milner is only 13th in the minutes played charts, with 40,565. Sylvain Distin is directly above him, and he played more minutes in 185 fewer games. 

Milner is comfortably the most-used substitute in Premier League history, coming on 218 times, with Shane Long and Peter Crouch joint-second on 158 appearances from the bench.

But Milner's longevity simply has to be admired. 

James Milner has now played in the Premier League in 25 calendar years  pic.twitter.com/JBJiZnDMzJ

— Premier League (@premierleague) January 3, 2026

He has now made a Premier League appearance in 25 straight calendar years, and of the 879 other players to play 100 or more Premier League games since 2002-03, Milner has shared the pitch with every single one of them, with Nathan Collins completing the set when he came off the bench for Brentford.

It might be a long time before anyone comes for his appearance record, which he will surely wish to build on before the season is out.