Premier League Team of the Season: Opta Analyst’s 2025-26 XI | OneFootball

With the campaign officially done and dusted, we look back on it by picking our Premier League Team of the Season for 2025-26.

The 2025-26 Premier League season has now finished. A campaign that began on Friday 15 August 2025 contained 380 matches, 1,045 goals, 9.503 shots, 273,956 successful passes, 12,671 tackles and 44 red cards. It ended with Arsenal as champions and West Ham, Burnley and Wolves relegated.

With the season done and dusted, we’ve analysed the performances of every player and picked our Opta Analyst Team of the Season. These 11 players have been selected after performing better than any other player in their respective position according to the data…

GoalkeeperDavid Raya (Arsenal)

The title-winning goalkeeper makes our 2025-26 Premier League team of the season, with David Raya making some crucial saves to help Arsenal end a 22-year wait for a league title.

The Spaniard won the Golden Glove award for the third successive season, keeping a league-high 19 clean sheets for the Gunners. That tally equalled a club record in a Premier League season, drawing level with David Seaman’s efforts in both 1993-94 and 1998-99.

Raya made more starts (37) and played more minutes (3,300) than any other player in Arsenal’s successful Premier League season, only missing the last match of the campaign against Crystal Palace with the title already wrapped up.

Right-BackMatheus Nunes (Manchester City)

For a player theoretically more suited to a midfield role, Matheus Nunes has performed superbly since reinventing himself on the right side of Man City’s defence.

There is little doubt that right-back is now his primary position, with 98% of his Premier League minutes in 2025-26 coming there.

His comfort in possession has made him one of City’s most effective outlets. Among full-backs, Nunes recorded the most ball carries (514) and covered the greatest distance while carrying (5,575 metres) in the Premier League this season. He also completed 1,153 passes in the opposition half, more than any other player in the division, while completing those at a rate of 88.4%.

Nunes was also tough to beat going the other way and we can look at his true tackle win percentage to measure that. Where the standard ‘tackles’ metric only considers success when the ball is taken away from the opponents and excludes fouls, ‘true tackles’ rewards defenders for getting a touch on the ball even if their opponents retain possession.

At 67%, Nunes’ true tackle success rate was second among Man City players who featured in at least 25 league games, behind only Rúben Dias (72.2%).

Centre-BackWilliam Saliba (Arsenal)

One half of Arsenal’s rock-solid central defensive pairing, William Saliba complements Gabriel Magalhães’ physicality with composure and elegance.

The Frenchman was dribbled past on just seven occasions in the Premier League this season. Of defenders to play as many minutes as Saliba, only Virgil van Dijk (two) and Ezri Konsa (four) were beaten fewer times by an opponent.

In possession, he was equally assured. Saliba completed 92.9% of his passes across the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, the third-best accuracy of any player to attempt at least 2,000 passes.

Alongside Gabriel, he formed the foundation of the league’s strongest defence. Among centre-back pairings to start together more than five times in 2025-26, Saliba and Gabriel recorded comfortably the best clean sheet rate. Arsenal kept 15 clean sheets in their 26 league starts together, averaging one every 1.7 games.

Centre-BackGabriel Magalhães (Arsenal)

One half of the Premier League’s most formidable centre-back partnership, Gabriel Magalhães was firmly in the conversation for Player of the Season until Bruno Fernandes went nuclear to end the campaign.

The Brazilian was central to Arsenal’s title-winning defence, keeping more clean sheets (17) than any other defender in the Premier League as the champions conceded just 27 goals all season. That was eight fewer than any other side (Man City next best on 35), and Arsenal’s best defensive record since the Invincibles conceded 26 in 2003-04.

While Gabriel was on the pitch Arsenal only conceded 20 goals. At a rate of one every 138 minutes, that was the best ratio of any defender in the division among players to feature for at least 2,000 minutes.

As ever, he was also a huge threat in attack. Arsenal’s dominance from set-pieces has become one of the defining features of the Mikel Arteta era, and Gabriel’s aerial prowess remains central to that approach.

Only teammate Jurriën Timber (three goals, five assists) and Man Utd’s Patrick Dorgu (four goals, four assists) were involved in more Premier League goals among defenders than Gabriel in 2025-26, with the Brazilian contributing three goals and four assists himself.

He also made first contact from an Arsenal corner on 13 occasions, more than any other player in Arteta’s side.

Left-BackAdrien Truffert (Bournemouth)

Signed from Rennes last summer, Adrien Truffert arrived at Bournemouth with big shoes to fill at left-back after Milos Kerkez’s brilliant campaign in 2024-25 earned him a move to Liverpool

Truffert dazzled in his first season on the south coast, bringing the same relentless energy and attacking intent that made Kerkez such a success.

He was the only player to make 50+ overlapping runs in the Premier League in 2025-26, underlining Bournemouth’s reliance on his forward thrust down the left flank.

It was one such run and cutback that created the assist for Junior Kroupi’s goal against Manchester City in the game that ultimately decided the title race. That was one of five Premier League assists for the Frenchman, with only Lucas Digne (six) registering more among defenders.

His impact without the ball was just as impressive. Truffert made more tackles (103) and interceptions (48) than any other full-back in the Premier League during 2025-26.

He was also the only Bournemouth outfield player to start all 38 league matches as Andoni Iraola’s side qualified for European football for the first time in their history.

Central MidfielderDominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)

Dominik Szoboszlai’s season may have ended rather disappointingly with reigning champions Liverpool only managing a fifth-place finish – 25 points off winners Arsenal – but his own performances were impressive.

Renowned for his exceptional long-range shooting, the Hungarian scored a joint-high four goals from outside the box in the Premier League this season, with no other player recording as many shots from outside the area as he did (52). All four of those goals came via direct free-kicks – both the most of any player in 2025-26 and the most by a Liverpool player in a single campaign in the competition.

He was also a creative threat for Arne Slot’s side, especially from set plays. Only one player created more chances from set-pieces (37) than Szoboszlai in the Premier League this season, while he also made the most successful crosses (69) across the competition.

Central MidfielderDeclan Rice (Arsenal)

Declan Rice takes his place in Opta’s Premier League Team of the Season for the fourth successive campaign, but this time he’s included as a league winner.

A reliable figure in Arsenal’s midfield on the way to collecting the Premier League title, no outfielder played more league minutes for Arsenal this season than Rice (3,099), with the England international missing just one of their 38 league matches in 2025-26.

One of Arsenal’s most creative players in 2025-26, Rice generated a team-high 63 chances for his teammates, while only Bukayo Saka (7.2) accumulated a higher expected assists (xA) total than he did (7.0). Much of his creative threat came from his set-piece delivery – no player has a higher xA total from corners and indirect free-kicks than Rice in the Premier League this season (3.3).

Rice remained just as essential for Mikel Arteta’s side with and without the ball. He led all Arsenal players for possession regains per 90 minutes (5.2) and averaged 80.4 touches per 90 in the Premier League this season, the most involved that Rice has ever been in a single top-flight league campaign.

Central MidfielderElliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)

Elliot Anderson had a superb campaign at Nottingham Forest and is the only player in our 2025-26 Premier League Team of the Season to have played for a side that finished in the bottom half of the table.

Anderson had the most touches (3,300), won the most duels (298), won possession the most times (306) and also won the most fouls (80) of any player in the Premier League this season. He also completed the most passes (2,038) and made the most line-breaking passes (376) of all the Premier League central midfielders in 2025-26.

The 23-year-old ended the season totalling 1,895 high-intensity pressures on opponents, the second-most across all midfielders, and also ranked second for total distance run in 2025-26 (411.04 km).

Attacking MidfielderBruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

Bruno Fernandes broke the Premier League seasonal assist record in 2025-26, with his 21st coming on the final day versus Brighton & Hove Albion. His 21 assists edged out the 20 goals created by both Thierry Henry (2002-03) and Kevin De Bruyne (2019-20).

His creative excellence wasn’t just restricted to goal assists, though. The Manchester United captain created 136 chances for his teammates this season, 58 more than any other Premier League player. On record since 2003-04, only Mesut Özil in 2015-16 (146) has created more in one season.

The Portuguese also topped the league rankings for open-play chances created (98) and expected assists (12.3).

Fernandes was involved in 30 goals overall in 2025-26 (9 goals, 21 assists), equalling his career-high tally from 2020-21 in the Premier League, while he equalled the record for the most assists from set-pieces in a Premier League campaign (11), tying Steven Gerrard’s effort from 2013-14.

Attacking MidfielderRayan Cherki (Manchester City)

Rayan Cherki enjoyed a brilliant first season at Manchester City, despite missing out on a Premier League winners’ medal. The Frenchman assisted 12 Premier League goals in 2025-26, the most by a player in their debut season since Dimitri Payet in 2015-16 (also 12).

Of players to play at least 1,000 minutes in 2025-26, only Bruno Fernandes (4.0) created more chances per 90 minutes than Cherki (3.0), but it was the City forward who topped the Premier League rankings for expected assists per 90 (0.44).

Cherki registered multiple assists in three different Premier League games this season, the joint-most of any player along with Jack Grealish and Fernandes.

StrikerErling Haaland (Manchester City)

Erling Haaland once again won the Premier League Golden Boot award, scoring 27 goals for Manchester City in 2025-26. He became just the fifth player to win the Premier League Golden Boot at least three times, alongside Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah (4 each) and Alan Shearer and Harry Kane (3).

Haaland’s only scored more goals in a Premier League season once before – in his first campaign at the club in 2022-23 (36 goals), while he equalled his best tally of assists in a Premier League campaign (8).

It was also a season where he kept up his record of converting at least 20% of his shots, scoring with 21.4% of shots in 2025-26.

There were only three instances a player scored in 5+ consecutive Premier League appearances during 2025-26 and Haaland was responsible for two of them (six games from August to October, five games in April/May).

Enjoy this? Add Opta Analyst as a preferred source by clicking here.

Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.