Southampton ace James Ward-Prowse joins Cristiano Ronaldo in third place on the Premier League all-time list for goals scored from direct free kicks with only David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola scoring more

The Premier League has had many free kick specialists over the years.

David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Gianfranco Zola, Cristiano Ronaldo and many other soccer greats have been absolutely lethal from the dead ball.

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Ward-Prowse loves free-kick goals

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There aren’t many better dead ball than Ward-Prowse

James Ward-Prowse is one of the best the top flight has ever seen.

The Southampton man scored his 11th goal from a direct free kick when his team drew with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The 27-year-old scored a stylish draw at home after Wilfried Zaha gave the hosts the lead, before Armando Broja and Jordan Ayew ensured both sides shared the points in South London.

Ward-Prowse’s goal means he now has 11 top-flight free throws and only three more players in history have scored more dead balls.

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Beckham tops the list as the best free-throw shooter the top flight has ever seen.

Manchester United legend David Beckham leads the way, and also by a margin, with 18 goals scored directly from free kicks.

Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola are second on the list with the two forwards with 12 points for Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

With his goal at Selhurst Park, Ward-Prowse has now joined Ronaldo, Sebastian Larsson and Laurent Robert as the third most lethal with free throws.

All-time Premier League direct free kick scorers

Goals from direct free kicks

David Beckham 18

Thierry Henry 12

Gianfranco Zola 12

Sebastian Larsson 11

Cristiano Ronaldo 11

Laurent Robert 11

Morten Gamst Pedersen 10

Ian Harte 10

Frank Lampard 9

Jamie Redknapp 9

Nolberto Solano 9

Christian Eriksen 8

Juan Mata 8

Unfortunately, for Ward-Prowse, the beauty of a free kick wasn’t enough for Southampton to win the game.

Palace had a midfielder when Odsonne Edouard passed Zaha, who edged out Willy Caballero for his fifth goal of the season.

Ward-Prowse’s special free kick leveled the game before Broja unleashed a shot from range to beat Butland and put the visitors 2-1 up.

But Palace bounced back when Jordan Ayew ended his long wait for a goal.

Willy Caballero turned down Edouard, but the Ghana international was available to fit in at home from a narrow angle.

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