‘If Ewood Park’s undersoil heating hadn't broken, my Premier League appearance record wouldn’t exist’ Brad Friedel recalls how Dirk Kuyt and faulty electrics both played roles in his astonishing record of 310 consecutive top-flight matches

Some Premier League records are destined to be broken. Barely a week goes by, for instance, when someone doesn’t mention Alan Shearer’s goals record of 260 and how much longer that can possibly stand.

There are others, however, which seem to remain set in stone for all time. One such statistic is Brad Friedel’s consecutive appearance record of 310 games – exactly 100 more than fellow American Tim Howard (210) and over 150 more than Frank Lampard (164), who holds the outfield record.

The astonishing record appears all the more ridiculous when one considers it was set across spells at Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, and a whole host of different managers belonging to each of those clubs. Even still, Friedel’s colossal achievement between 14 August 2004 and 29 September 2012 will one day fall just like other records. According to Friedel himself, at least.

'There were many moments when my own sequence could have been lost' Freidel on the precarious nature of Premier League immortality

“Every record can be broken,” Friedel tells FourFourTwo on behalf of ToonieBet.

“If it was set once it can be set again. These things are set on fine margins in the first place. There were many moments when my own sequence could have been lost.

“I remember once, when I was racking up games at Blackburn, we played Liverpool and I went up to challenge Dirk Kuyt for an aerial ball. I came down with a serious dead leg right at the end of the game. I was struggling massively. This was around the Christmas period and we had a game just a few days later. I could barely bend my leg and couldn’t train properly.

“I turned up at Ewood Park early before the following fixture, to try and pass a fitness test," continues Freidel. "I was doubting if I’d even be able to kick a ball so was expecting to fail it.

“But when I arrived, I was told the undersoil heating on half the pitch had broken down. The officials were out on the field testing the ground to check if the game could be played.”

It was this scene which ended up playing a crucial role in Friedel keeping his record going.

“I was getting ready to go out and run when I heard the match would be called off,” continues a goalkeeper who also won 82 caps for the USA.

“To be honest with you, I was stunned by that as the field felt OK to me to walk on. But anyway, they called it off and the game was abandoned. A few days later, I recovered in time to start the next game. So my record stayed intact."

Friedel reveals there were a host of other incidents which could have curtailed his run, which finally came to an end under Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas, under pressure to give new signing Hugo Lloris his first run in the Spurs side.

“I had man flu a couple of times, I was carrying knocks a couple of times, and even had a red card rescinded,” chuckles Friedel. “But in each case I made it through somehow. So there was a huge amount of luck involved as well.”