After a breathtaking 2023/24 Premier League campaign, football writer Alex Keble selects his Team of the Season picking only one player per club.
Starting XI
Jose Sa (Wolves)
The Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper hasn’t received the positive press of, say, Jordan Pickford, who kept 13 clean sheets for Everton, but Jose Sa consistently overperforms despite not having a Sean Dyche-style defensive wall in front of him.
Sa tops the Premier League charts for "Expected Goals Prevented", with 9.5 in total, which subtracts the number of goals conceded (57 in Sa’s case) from the "Expected Goals on Target" figure (66.5 for Sa), measuring xG based on where the shot went.
It’s the best statistical measure we have of a goalkeeper’s shot-stopping ability – and Sa wins comfortably.
Pedro Porro (Spurs)
Ange Postecoglou demands an awful lot of his full-backs and his debut campaign at Tottenham Hotspur would not have been so successful without Pedro’s consistently excellent performances as a right-back/central midfielder/centre-forward.
Spurs’ full-backs have to defend in the defensive line, step into midfield to become the spare man in the middle and then make striker-like runs in behind the opposition defence. Porro has done all three brilliantly, scoring three goals and assisting seven more.
Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton)
An exciting breakthrough season at Everton has deservedly ended with an England call-up ahead of UEFA Euro 2024 and although the 21-year-old is yet to earn his first senior cap, Branthwaite has an outside chance of becoming a starter this summer.
Branthwaite has it all: composure, elegance on the ball and a Dyche-inspired capacity to win duels in his own box.
Team-mate James Tarkowski, with 117, is the only Premier League centre-back who won more tackles and made more interceptions than Branthwaite's 116.
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
This season has been a return to form for Liverpool’s colossal centre-back.
A lot of people thought Van Dijk's performances had declined following some hesitant displays in 2022/23, but he was back to his stoic and commanding best this season.
Van Dijk won 81.4 per cent of his aerial duels this season, by far the most in the competition.
Antonee Robinson (Fulham)
Robinson has been one of the standout players of this Premier League campaign and probably most people’s pick for left-back in their overall team of the season.
He is a classic all-action overlapping full-back, topping the Premier League charts for both interceptions, with 80, and completed crosses into the penalty area, with 26.
Declan Rice (Arsenal)
It was a toss-up between Rice and Martin Odegaard, but the England midfielder gets the nod for the transformative impact he has had on Arsenal’s capacity to control the rhythm of a match and grind out victories.
There is nobody quite like Rice: a ball-carrier, tackler and creative midfielder rolled into one.
Arsenal’s emergence as a self-assured team able to push Manchester City to the end is thanks to Rice’s presence in the middle.
Pascal Gross (Brighton)
Moved into a deeper central midfield role this season following the departures of Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister, Gross was by a distance Roberto De Zerbi’s most important player.
Only Bruno Fernandes created more chances this season than Gross’s 103, while he also completed more crosses into the penalty than anyone else, with 27, and ranked third overall for progressive passes, with 302.
John McGinn (Aston Villa)
Although it seems harsh to displace Ollie Watkins, who amassed 32 combined goals and assists in the Premier League, McGinn was the beating heart of Unai Emery’s midfield – and virtually ever-present.
He started 51 of Villa’s 54 matches in all competitions - filling in on the right side of midfield, attacking midfield and defensive midfield - and was relentlessly brilliant in each of them: swivelling away from pressure, bursting forward and piercing the lines to make Emery’s tactical ideas a reality. A true captain’s season.
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
An incredible breakthrough season for Palmer ended with the Chelsea playmaker as the division’s out-and-out leader for goals and assists, with 33.
That Palmer was so productive in a struggling Chelsea team so often wasteful in front of goal only adds to his achievement. At 21, Palmer has the world at his feet.
Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
Injuries restricted Newcastle’s centre-forward to only 27 Premier League starts this season, but he still managed to score 21 goals, a testament to his world-class finishing.
But Isak is more than that. He is a complete striker, slaloming into space outside the box and bringing others into play, too.
Phil Foden (Man City)
Anyone doubting Foden’s selection as EA SPORTS Player of the Season surely changed their minds after 78 seconds of City’s final Premier League match against West Ham United.
That goal was symbolic of Foden’s graduation from Kevin De Bruyne's apprentice to game-changer and superstar.
Foden is now one of the first names on the teamsheet, scoring 19 goals and assisting eight more in the Premier League.
Substitutes
Andre Onana (Man Utd)
He got off to a shaky start but Onana, who made more saves than any other goalkeeper, with 146, never had much protection - and ultimately excelled.
Alfie Doughty (Luton)
Luton Town’s standout player was a left-back who created the ninth-most chances in the Premier League, with 70, and the most among defenders.
Ethan Pinnock (Brentford)
Another very strong season from Brentford’s commanding centre-back, who averaged 1.54 interceptions per 90 minutes, 1.43 blocks per 90 minutes and 4.68 recoveries per 90 minutes, all career-best totals in a Premier League season.
Sander Berge (Burnley)
The Burnley central midfielder has been one of their few bright sparks. His passing under pressure was always at the heart of the Clarets' best moments.
Gustavo Hamer (Sheff Utd)
Hamer created more than twice as many chances per 90 minutes, with 1.90, than any other Sheff Utd player, and his four goals and six assists mean he contributed to 29 per cent of the team’s 35 goals.
Morgan Gibbs-White (Nott'm Forest)
Forest’s No 10 is their most important player, as evidenced by his 15 goal contributions – a new personal best in the top flight.
Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace)
Michael Olise and Eze were equally important to Crystal Palace’s revival under Oliver Glasner, but Eze, with 15 goal contributions, gets the nod for playing in significantly more Premier League matches (27) than his team-mate (19).
Mohammed Kudus (West Ham)
Kudus’s trickery was essential in getting West Ham up the pitch this season, and along with an impressive 14 goal contributions in his debut campaign, he topped the Premier League charts for attempted and successful take-ons, with 221 and 124 respectively.
Dominic Solanke (AFC Bournemouth)
No player has improved more under Andoni Iraola than Solanke, who came joint-fourth in the Premier League goalscoring charts with 19, more than tripling his previous best at this level.
