Five England Euro 2024 players in our Premier League team of the season by statistics

Premier League TOTS features Declan Rice, Rodri, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden
Premier League TOTS features Declan Rice, Rodri, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden

The Premier League season is over and this is the team of the season according to the statistics.

We have used WhoScored ratings as a guide. No players with fewer than 20 starts are included. This is not to be confused with the F365 team of the season, chosen with our eyes rather than with algorithms.

 

GOALKEEPER: Alphonse Areola (West Ham)
Saving two penalties in a season will do that. But in general play, Areola has been kept awful busy by a poor West Ham defence. He has not been forced into quite as many saves as Andre Onana, but nobody has been forced into quite as many saves as Andre Onana.

 

RIGHT-BACK: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Ben White passes the eye test but Alexander-Arnold creates a boatload of chances, even if many of them weren’t taken by Liverpool’s misfiring forwards. The punchline is obviously that neither will play for England as a right-back at Euro 2024.

 

CENTRE-BACK: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Had an absolute ‘mare v Arsenal
but it was so hilarious precisely because it was so rare. His form helped Liverpool be in the title race for so long, though his arrogance might be one of the reasons they ultimately fell short. Two Premier League goals and two assists help the algorithm.

 

CENTRE-BACK: James Tarkowski (Everton)
Has been a defensive monster this season. Why no Arsenal or Manchester City centre-halves? Because the algorithms like actions and they tend to be called into rather less action.

 

LEFT-BACK: Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City)
This chimes with our own choice at left-back. The Croat absolutely grew into the season and was key as City claimed the title once again. Those four goals certainly helped a) City and b) his ranking.

 

CENTRE MIDFIELD: Rodri (Manchester City)
The best in the world in his position? Quite possibly. Casually added goals and assists (he notched eight and nine) to his repertoire while posting a 92.5% pass completion rate and doing all the dirty defensive work too. He was unbeaten in forever until that FA Cup final.

 

CENTRE MIDFIELD: Declan Rice (Arsenal)
One of six Arsenal players to have logged a combined 10 Premier League goal contributions or more. He also does a lot of the dirty work in that central midfield. Imagine if City had signed him and paired him with the man above.

 

RIGHT WING: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Sixteen goals and nine assists this season but it’s defensive work that keeps him ahead of the competition here; nobody in the Premier League makes more tackles in the final third. The player of the season according to the WhoScored rankings. But probably not even Arsenal’s player of the season.

Fun fact: Michael Olise would have claimed this place if he had started more games.

 

ATTACKING MIDFIELD: Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Nobody saw a 22-goal Premier League season coming. Least of all Manchester City (who sold him) or Mauricio Pochettino (who initially didn’t want him). Now the challenge is on to find a way to fit all these brilliant young English players into Gareth Southgate’s plans for Euro 2024.

 

LEFT WING: Phil Foden (Manchester City)
The FWA Player of the Year and likely PFA Player of the Year, Foden has claimed 19 goals and eight assists in a phenomenal season. We have shifted him left to make room for Palmer.

 

STRIKER: Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
You just cannot argue with 27 Premier League goals in 31 games. Nor with all these other ridiculous statistics. Though he was nowhere near the best finisher this season.