The ultimate Premier League Team of the Season based on stats from past 10 years | OneFootball

Highlights

The last decade of Premier League football has been truly extraordinary to watch. Whether you're thinking of Leicester City's fairytale title win, Manchester City's dominance, or perhaps Liverpool ending their title drought after an incredible season under Jurgen Klopp, fans have never been short of entertainment for the last 10 years.

In that time, numerous stars have plied their trade in the English top-flight, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Virgil van Dijk, Erling Haaland and many more. And all that star power gives rise to debates over who the greatest players in every position are.

Season after season, that debate is settled right at the end when the Team of the Season is confirmed. But what would an Ultimate Premier League XI look like if we considered players from the last decade? Well, the team at WhoScored, who have collected stats and data on players from various leagues for many years now, have looked at numbers for past and present Premier League players from the last 10 years and have built the Ultimate Premier League Team of the Season team based on who records the best single-season ratings in every position. Of course, when picking a shape, they decided to go with the classic 4-4-2, a formation synonymous with English football.

And while the XI is stacked with stars, there are some huge absentees too. There's no room for Vincent Kompany or Mohamed Salah, and not a single Manchester United player makes the grade either. But we're not here to talk about who missed out. Let's crack on with the XI.

Given that in the last 10 years, we've had the likes of Petr Cech, Ederson, Alisson, and David de Gea all line up in between the sticks for Premier League sides, this one is a surprise. Despite the brilliance of the aforementioned quartet, it is Lukasz Fabianski who gets in thanks to his brilliance for Swansea during the 2014/15 campaign.

His performances that season saw him keep 13 clean sheets, one short of eventual Golden Glove winner Joe Hart. However, he was key to the Swans finishing eighth in the table that year, as were the likes of Wilfried Bony, Bafetimbi Gomis, and Ki Sung-yeung. Nobody made more saves in the league that term than the Polish shot-stopper, though, with his 135 justifying his inclusion [FBref].

While questions may be asked about how assured Trent Alexander-Arnold is in defence, don't forget exactly what he brings to the table going forward. Capable of playing an inch-perfect cross and through ball for attackers, and also capable of unleashing a fierce shot, there aren't many players in the league who are better than the Liverpool lad when on the ball, hence why he ranks fourth in our Premier League right-backs ranking.

You might have expected him to get into this team for his performances in the Reds' title-winning season in 2019/20 when he bagged four league goals and 13 assists. But it's actually for his efforts in the 2021/22 season instead, when Klopp's side finished second following some late drama between Aston Villa and Manchester City. 12 assists, coupled with the most key passes (90) and second-most assists (12) saw him amass a 7.52 average rating, fractionally better than the 7.20 he averaged when Liverpool won a first Premier League title.

It's no surprise to see one of the best Premier League centre-backs of all-time in this list, with Van Dijk superb ever since arriving from Celtic in 2015. What is surprising, however, is to see him get into this team based on his performances for Southampton and not Liverpool.

It really is a testament to how good the Dutchman is that he managed to record a 7.56 average rating during his very first season in the division. Providing the foundations for a Saints side which finished 6th in the league that year, Van Dijk made 155 tackles and interceptions, with only four teams conceding fewer goals than Southampton that term. His talent was spotted by Liverpool, who bought him in January 2018. And the rest was history...

CB - Nicolas Otamendi

Not John Terry, not Jan Vertonghen, not even Kompany, one of the best Belgians to play in the Premier League. Instead, it's the Man City man's centre-back partner for 2016/17, Nicolas Otamendi, who makes the cut for this XI, accumulating an average rating which surpasses Kompany's best in the last decade by 0.17.

Otamendi did have a decent year for City that season, ranking 7th in the league for total interceptions, but what's even more astounding is that he didn't even manage to win the league that year, with City finishing third. No individual honours fell his way that season, and he missed out on the PFA Team of the Year in that term too - Chelsea's Gary Cahill and David Luiz were selected in that XI. Still, he takes the crown in this team bizarrely.

LB - Christian Fuchs

The Premier League has never been short of quality left-backs over the years, and there might have been a few of you who expected to see Liverpool's Andy Robertson, one of the best in the position in recent years, take a spot here. But it's a different Premier League-winning full-back who gets the nod instead.

Christian Fuchs - responsible for one of the Premier League's funniest moments when he dropped Alexis Sanchez with a throw-in - played over 2,700 minutes of Leicester's incredible title-winning campaign in 2015/16, providing defensive solidity on the left while also weighing in with four assists. Danny Rose pipped him to a spot in the PFA Team of the Year that season, but Fuchs' 7.50 rating was marginally better than the 7.25 that the Spurs defender put up in the league that term.

RM - Riyad Mahrez

Back-to-back Leicester title winners. And while Fuchs might fall into the unsung heroes category, Riyad Mahrez was anything but that. Along with Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante, the Algerian winger was one of the stars for Claudio Ranieri's side as they surprisingly finished the season as Premier League champions.

Finishing the season with 17 goals and 11 assists, Mahrez truly burst onto the scene of English football that year, winning Leicester's Player of the Year award for his efforts in the process. Renowned for outrageous skills and a beautiful first-touch that he still possesses, that title would be the first of five league trophies as he went on to complete a move to Manchester City in 2018, but he would never record as high a rating as he managed while at Leicester. Quite impressive that he manages to keep Salah out of this team, whose best rating for a season stands at 7.69.

CM - Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard's penultimate season as a player at Anfield nearly turned out to be one of his best. Starring in a team full of talent, the skipper came so close to a Premier League trophy, only to slip at the final hurdle. Speaking years after the incident, Demba Ba, who scored because of Gerrard's infamous mistake, revealed he had no sympathy for the Premier League icon.

That costly error was a real shame too, purely because of the season Gerrard was having with the club. Finishing on 13 goals and 13 assists, his best season in terms of output, only four players finished with more goal contributions than the midfielder in the 2013/14 season. A place in the PFA Team of the Year beckoned, the eighth time he was selected for the honour, but that hardly softened the blow.

What a freak of nature this man is. When speaking about the best midfielders in Premier League history, De Bruyne certainly has to be in the conversation. Joint-fourth in the league's all-time assist charts, the 32-year-old has terrorised defences for City ever since he arrived at the Etihad in 2015.

There have been six instances where the Belgian has amassed an average rating of 7.50 or more, but his most impressive is the 2019/20 season by quite some way. With 13 goals and 20 assists, he equalled Thierry Henry's record for most assists in a single season that term. Him and Stevie G playing in the engine room together would truly be something to behold.

While some argue numbers are what let Eden Hazard down when debating who was better out of him and Salah, the Belgian's average rating sees him climb into this team ahead of the Egyptian King. In full-flight, he really was something, capable of weaving in and out of players as if they weren't even there.

For many, Hazard's final season with Chelsea is his standout term, with him hitting 15+ goals and assists - one of only four players to accomplish that feat. However, his performances in Chelsea's 2014/15 title-winning season see him crack this XI with an impressive rating of 7.96. Also named Player of the Season for his 14 goals and nine assists, it was a year to remember for the pint-sized Belgian. According to former teammate John Obi Mikel, he managed to do all this with one of the worst attitudes to training ever. Crazy stuff.

ST - Sergio Aguero

There are certain guarantees with this team, and Sergio Aguero is certainly one of them. Arguably one of the best centre-forwards in Premier League history, the Argentine ranks fifth in the all-time Premier League goals charts and top for most hat-tricks in the division's history.

However, 2017/18 was not Aguero's best in terms of total goals scored. In fact, he amassed more in three other seasons while at Manchester City. Yet his title success and all-round play was the best according to WhoScored's ratings. With hat-tricks against Watford and Newcastle and four goals in a 5-1 victory over Leicester City that season, it's perhaps understandable why that term is his highest-rated.

ST - Luis Suarez

Is this one of the best individual seasons in Premier League history? It's certainly arguable. Luis Suarez was on a mission every game he played during the 2013/14 campaign, just coming up short and missing out on a league title.

But boy what an individual season he had. Not just content with scoring 31 goals, he bagged 12 assists and 14 Man of the Match awards, the most in this list, and an average rating of 8.43 is the highest in this team by quite some way. PFA Player of the Year and directly involved in just under 50% of Liverpool's 101 league goals that season, he managed that insane total despite missing the first five games of the campaign through a suspension for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic. If you haven't seen his highlights from that season, go and check them out. They are seriously unbelievable.