As we step into Christmas, this season’s Premier League is shaping up to be one of the most entertaining in years and years. Fights for the title, European places and survival are all incredibly tight heading into the second half of 2024-25. Up and down the land, there have been stories of success and sorrow.
Who would have thought Arne Slot would so seamlessly step in for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool? That Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea wouldn’t be a complete disaster? That Manchester City would enter crisis mode even with the promise of Pep Guardiola staying?
GOAL has run through the 20 top-flight teams and assembled the best combined XI from the season so far…
GK: Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Yeah, didn’t expect to see this guy here, did you? At this stage of the season, there’s usually a standout goalkeeper with their head above the precipice. That was supposed to be Andre Onana this year, but he’s somehow managed to play his way out of contention for this spot with a string of strange performances for Manchester United.
Coming into the XI comes Everton’s Jordan Pickford then, who is essentially the last ‘keeper standing without a clanger to their name in the last two or three months. He has stood between the Toffees and the brink of oblivion, further etching his name into the club’s modern folklore.
After 17 rounds of fixtures (in which Everton have only played 16 times due to the postponed Merseyside derby), Pickford has kept a league-high seven clean sheets including recent shutouts against title challengers Arsenal and Chelsea, while his side have the best goals against record in the bottom half, shipping just 21 so far.
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
If this season has taught us anything, it’s that we should stop saying Kyle Walker is better defensively than Trent Alexander-Arnold. They may have been true once upon a time, but definitely no longer.
The future of Liverpool’s No.66 remains up in the air, yet he has not let that rumbling uncertainty negatively impact his displays. In fact, they’ve managed to improve, particularly when out of possession. Alexander-Arnold has tallied four assists and has played a hand in seven clean sheets in the league alone.
It would be a travesty for both Liverpool and the Premier League as a whole if Alexander-Arnold walks away and heads to Real Madrid next summer. His boyhood club cannot let that happen.
CB: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
The second of Liverpool’s three out-of-contract superstars to get our nod is club captain Virgil van Dijk. Now 33, it’d be easy to assume he would be on the decline, but instead he is enjoying a mini-renaissance.
Whereas before he was tasked as the sweeper in Jurgen Klopp’s high line, Arne Slot’s arrival has allowed the Reds to play in a calmer fashion defensively, and Van Dijk has benefitted from this far less frantic approach.
He netted a crucial header in a 2-2 draw with title rivals Arsenal back in October, while has also led by example and played down his own contract saga with the media, often refusing to give the press any crumbs to feed off of.
CB: Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal)
This was a tough toss-up between William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, who have both been excellent throughout the entirety of 2024 and extending back into last season. However, we’ve plumped for the latter due to his rather ridiculous goal record, scoring three times this term from Arsenal’s wicked set-pieces.
How do you stop Gabriel from getting a run on you? How do you plan to nullify his blatantly obvious presence? What more can be done beside Monaco’s trick of leaving a few attackers forward on corners?
The Gunners have brought a Football Manager glitch to life and they have leant heavily on that while the rest of the world tries to play catch up. Gabriel has been the main beneficiary.
LB: Antonee Robinson (Fulham)
Has a United States international ever been in the running for the Premier League Team of the Season? Antonee Robinson may be the first to do so.
It’s been a down year for the division’s usual suspects – your Andy Robertsons, your Luke Shaws – and the American has come steaming in to make this spot his own, galloping up and down Fulham’s left flank to provide six assists and even captaining Marco Silva’s high-flying side on several occasions.
If Robinson can sustain this form across the entire season, then surely a move to one of Europe’s bigger clubs awaits. No offence, Fulham fans…
CM: Moises Caicedo (Chelsea)
Should the football world give Chelsea kudos for finally looking like a team that has spent over £1bn on a new squad? Meh, maybe a little, though Enzo Maresca (and to an extent, predecessor Mauricio Pochettino) deserves a massive chunk of that credit for actually sifting through the nonsense and assembling not one, but two workable teams.
At the heart of the first-choice side has been vice-captain Moises Caicedo, now deserving of his £115m price tag and improving week on week. He’s been one of two premier holding midfielders to have graced the league this autumn and winter.
With Romeo Lavia and Enzo Fernandez starting to pull their weight in midfield too, Caicedo should have a little less on his plate in the second half of the season. But even if it remains stacked, he’s shown he has the capability and quality to succeed holding the fort alone.
CM: Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)
Liverpool swung and missed on Caicedo in the summer of 2023, and that eventually led them to pursuing long-term target Ryan Gravenberch instead. As far as second prizes go, this was quite the turn-up.
Gravenberch took a little while to settle during his debut season on Merseyside, but with compatriot Slot at the Anfield helm, he is showing who he really is – a fierce, composed, all-action and no-nonsense midfielder.
The seamlessness of the 23-year-old’s transition from bit-part to key player has made it all the more surprising that his performances haven’t been raved about more on a national scale. Well, that probably depends on how many Liverpool fans you have in your life, to be fair!
RW: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
The best player in the Premier League this season, bar none. The only one with more goal contributions than Cole Palmer, eclipsing the Chelsea man’s tally of 17 with a grand total of 26. Twenty-six.
Mohamed Salah has made the extraordinary seem ordinary. We take his greatness for granted sometimes. It’s only recently he’s been thrown about in Ballon d’Or conversations and been defended after yet another FIFPro Men’s World XI snub having somehow never been voted in before.
He’s on course for an all-time great season, as are this incredible Liverpool side. Now they just need to tie him down to that contract he’s so obviously earned.
AM: Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Little over a year ago, Cole Palmer was a million miles away from being a household name in England. Now, he’s one of the most famous footballers in the country and all the world, his signature celebration transcending sports and going global.
Palmer’s total of 17 league goals and assists combined this term has only been bettered by Salah, while he broke a remarkable record in September by becoming the first player in the competition’s history to score four goals in a first half.
Chelsea’s surprise title bid has revolved around the performances of Palmer. If they do go on to win the league, you can bet he’ll have had a massive say in it heading back to Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2017.
LW: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Fine, Bukayo Saka isn’t a left winger, you got us. What are you going to do about it?
Salah, Palmer and Saka have been the league’s three best players up until now, yet occupy pretty much the same area of the pitch. Sorry for doing some reshuffling and rejiggering in order to fit all of them in. In fact, no, retract that apology. Why shouldn’t all three be in the team one way or another?
There hasn’t even been a standout natural left winger to this point anyway, which makes it easier on a spiritual level to shove Saka in here. Just the 15 goals and assists for him so far.
CF: Erling Haaland (Man City)
Ah, our most contentious pick of the bunch. And, before you get your pitchforks and torches out, there’s a very simple line of thinking behind it.
Despite his and Manchester City’s dire run of form, Erling Haaland remains the Premier League’s top-scoring striker this season. Granted, 10 of his 13 came by mid-September, but he’s still out in front among his centre-forward peers, with only Salah ahead in the Golden Boot race on 15.
The striker position is the only one you could conceivably get away with putting down to stats and stats alone. It’s not hard to tell which strikers are good and which aren’t.
Haaland’s place in the end-of-season team is far from secure, we should denote, with Alexander Isak and Nicolas Jackson hot on his heels. The Norwegian scoring machine needs to find his shooting boots again to keep this spot in the long term.
