Now that the 2022/23 Premier League season has officially come to a conclusion, it’s time to take one final look back at the season’s top individual performers at every position.
Here is the Premier League Team of the Season, utilizing a 3-5-2 formation that is highly attacking because the four players in the attacking midfield and at striker absolutely HAD to make a list like this.
GK Bernd Leno, Fulham: Alisson and David Raya also merited consideration here, but Bernd Leno has to be the pick in goal for the 2022/23 Premier League Team of the Season. Leno was second behind Alisson in post-shot expected goals prevented per 90 at +0.26 to Alisson’s +0.27. Meanwhile, he was second in save percentage at 77.2 compared to Raya’s 77.4.
Whichever way you spin it, Leno was the most consistent goalkeeper in the Premier League. He rarely made mistakes, elevated the Cottagers to threaten for European football, and had the analytics that stack up with any of the top keepers. Leno has always been a quality keeper, going back to his days in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen. He proved a lot of people wrong with his performances this past season, looking right at home with Fulham.
CB Fabian Schär, Newcastle: Fabian Schär is legitimately one of the best center backs in the world, and he’s honestly always been a top player. It’s just that he never received his due, probably because Newcastle weren’t taken seriously by mainstream football pundits.
With Newcastle heading into the Champions League, now is the perfect time to give the Swiss veteran center back some credit. Schär had a fantastic all-around season at the heart of the Magpies’ incredible defense. He is a defender’s defender, reading the game expertly and rarely getting beat one-on-one.
CB Lisandro Martínez, Manchester United: Like Casemiro, Lisandro Martínez came into the Manchester United lineup and immediately transformed the team for the better. With all due respect to the solid Raphaël Varane, Martínez is the best center back on the team, and the days of Harry Maguire bumbling about in the back four are truly obsolete.
In just his first season from Ajax, Martínez made a mockery out of the pundits who declare he would be too small to succeed in the Premier League. The young man is always a step ahead of the player he is marking, and his tenacity and intelligent positioning more than mask any height-related issues. Martínez is quality on the ball and a real menace when winning possession for United. He is a great partner for Varane.
CB Gabriel Magalhães, Arsenal: William Saliba is a touted center back who went from being one of Ligue 1’s best to one of the Premier League’s best in the span of a season. Yet if we are being completely honest, his partner, Gabriel Magalhães, had the more impactful and consistent season at the heart of the Gunners’ much-improved defense.
Gabriel puts his body on the line to block shots and is a nightmare for any striker to deal with. The Brazilian is intelligent, physical, and rarely makes mistakes. He covers for so many other players and has become one of the best ball-playing central defenders in the Premier League. A former Ligue 1 standout in his own right at Lille, Gabriel has reached an entirely different level for Arsenal.
LM Joelinton, Newcastle: Joelinton may seem like a surprise pick, but because this position is about selecting a left-sided midfielder and not a winger, the Newcastle standout is the right choice. And truly, he deserves more credit. Since being branded as an overpriced flop from Hoffenheim, Joelinton has blossomed into one of the most unique weapons in the Premier League under Eddie Howe, who has brilliantly spotted the young forward’s unique skill set.
By pressing defenders into mistakes and relentlessly working to win possession for his team, Joelinton is a clear difference-maker for the Magpies despite not having the gaudiest goal-scoring stats. He unselfishly makes the other forwards better and is as impressive as any of them.
Joelinton averaged 3.7 combined tackles and interceptions per game last season, providing an invaluable service to the team defensively. Attacking by defending, that is. Meanwhile, he had 2.8 combined fouls drawn and dribbles completed on the offensive end, continually putting in the hard work to help Newcastle win matches.
DM Rodri, Manchester City: It’s not often you will see a world-class anchoring midfielder play world-class defense, complete well over 90 percent of his 80+ passes per game, and still find a way to directly provide six assists.
Rodri is the benchmark at the position in the Premier League and probably the best pure 6 in the world right now. It is such an asset for Manchester City to have a player like him, who shields the defense effectively and makes the right decision on the ball 99 times out of 100. Rodri is another chess grandmaster in midfield, fitting the modern responsibilities of a defensive midfielder perfectly and giving City yet another enviable, undefeatable presence on the park.
AM Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City: With 7 goals and 16 assists in the middle of the pitch, the 2022/23 Premier League season was simply business as usual for the unparalleled midfield maestro of Manchester City.
Kevin De Bruyne was a sensation for Wolfsburg, but since moving to the Premier League, he has become a true legend of the game. You can put him up there with any midfielder we have seen in this incredible league, because De Bruyne is as good as any of them. He dictates play, creates chances from nothing, works hard in defense, and can change matches in an instant with a rocket from beyond the blue. Just as Real Madrid.
AM Martin Ødegaard, Arsenal: Speaking of playmakers who can score wonderful goals, Martin Ødegaard had 15 of them for the Gunners in the 2022/23 season. Ødegaard wore the armband with pride and nearly spearheaded an unforgettable title triumph over this monstrous Manchester City side.
Alas, Ødegaard and his Gunners fell short, but the Norwegian superstar deserves all the praise in the world for his all-around brilliance in midfield. Ødegaard averaged 2.1 key passes per game and 1.3 dribbles completed per match, building on the silky-smooth skills he flaunted for Real Sociedad in the 2019/20 season. The 24-year-old has lived a lot of football since joining Real Madrid as a 16-year-old sensation. He is now legitimately one of the best players in the world.
RM Bukayo Saka, Arsenal: So, too, is the even younger Bukayo Saka, who, at the age of 21, is squarely in the discussion for being the best right winger in world football. It is a talent-scarce position, so Arsenal have a very valuable talent in the left-footed England international.
Saka is a true inverted winger, but he can also fit a deeper wide midfield role. He is versatile and unselfish, capable of holding width, drawing out defenders, and creating chances. With 14 goals and 11 assists in the 2022/23 Premier League season, Saka was one of the best all-around attacking players. There’s a case to be made that Harry Kane and Erling Haaland are the only better forwards than Saka, who can now sit at the same table as the legendary Mohamed Salah.
ST Harry Kane, Tottenham: There are so many Premier League Team of the Season formations that attempt to fit Harry Kane and Erling Haaland by shifting one or the other to the wing, but these two have to work together up top. Both men are capable of creating chances and scoring goals, but we all know that Kane is in his own league as far as all-around striker play goes in the year 2023 (sorry, Karim Benzema, but it’s Kane’s time now).
Kane scored 30 goals on a dreadful Tottenham side that may have even been in the relegation fight without him. They had a shambolic defense, a disastrous midfield after Rodrigo Bentancur went down, and an underperforming attack that was carried by Kane with some help from the young Dejan Kulusevski.
Tottenham’s forwards wasted Kane’s 1.5 key passes per game, so the captain had to do so much work himself to get to 30 goals. This should be a season we are talking about for decades, but, unfortunately, Spurs managed to throw away his brilliance and miss out on Europe entirely. Tottenham need to do the right thing and let this man go before his prime ends.
ST Erling Haaland, Manchester City: All the superlatives in the world must go to Erling Haaland. The 22-year-old striker is the best up-and-coming No. 9 we have ever seen in our lifetimes, and hopefully he has shattered any narrative of a so-called “Bundesliga tax”.
Haaland is quality personified. He is wise beyond his years off the ball, rarely makes bad decisions on it, slips the right pass to his teammates in the box with one touch, holds up play, dominates the aerial battles, and finishes better than anyone else in the Premier League – even Harry Kane.
It is downright unfair watching this Manchester City midfield machine work with Haaland.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.