The curtain has now closed on the 2025-26 Premier League season, with Arsenal pipping Manchester City to the title, Tottenham surviving on the final day and Sunderland staging an impressive late surge to qualify for the Europa League.
The ‘Team of the Season’ debate is often one which dominates discussion at the end of a campaign, with fans, pundits and ex-players all keen to give the performers they viewed as best their flowers.
Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville picked an almost identical best XI on the final Monday Night Football of the season last week, with the inclusion of Igor Thiago over Jeremy Doku proving the only difference between them.
And yet, despite surprisingly finding common ground this season, Carragher and Neville’s teams differ significantly to the XI drafted up by expert statisticians Sofascore.
Having reviewed the average performance of each player across the entire campaign, Sofascore has now revealed its Premier League Team of the Season – and a few inclusions will no doubt spark debate among supporters.
The first surprise pick comes between the sticks, with Brentford’s Caoimhin Kelleher selected over Arsenal shot-stopper David Raya, whose 19 clean sheets helped guide the Gunners to Premier League glory.
Stats boffins Sofascore have named their Premier League Team of the Season for 2025-26
Bruno Fernandes picked up the highest rating of any player with an impressive score of 7.61
Caoimhin Kelleher was perhaps a surprise inclusion at goalkeeper over Arsenal’s David Raya
Boasting a Sofascore rating of 7.05, no Premier League goalkeeper carved out better individual performances than the Irishman this season, even though he managed just 10 clean sheets across the campaign.
Arsenal’s Raya, Man City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma (15), Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson (11), Everton’s Jordan Pickford (11) and Bournemouth’s Djordje Petrovic (11) all finished with more shut-outs than the ex-Liverpool star in the Golden Glove race.
Moving into a three-man defence, Gunners centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes joins Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Manchester City defender Marc Guehi, who joined from Crystal Palace in January.
Picking up Sofascore ratings of 7.27, 7.26 and 7.30 respectively, the trio were rewarded for outstanding seasons at the back – even if many fans felt Van Dijk fell slightly below his typically lofty standards this campaign.
Arsenal’s midfield general Declan Rice partners Nottingham Forest star Elliot Anderson in a double pivot, with the highest Sofascore ratings so far at 7.46 and 7.34 respectively.
These inclusions will be music to the ears of Thomas Tuchel, who is set to start the pair together for England at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico this summer.
But there’s room for two more central midfield players slightly ahead of them, with Premier League Player of the Season Bruno Fernandes boasting a remarkable 7.61 rating after pioneering Manchester United to a third-place finish in the division.
The Portuguese midfielder broke the Premier League’s all-time single season assist record set by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne on the final day, taking his tally to 21 in the Red Devils’ 3-0 win over Brighton.
Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku both made the XI over Man City team-mate Antoine Semenyo
Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes made the midfield with almost the same rating as Declan Rice
The final central midfielder selected by Sofascore was Bruno Guimaraes, who earned a rating of 7.45 – almost as high as Rice – for his efforts at Newcastle.
A surprise inclusion despite his exceptional talent, Guimaraes only played 29 matches in the Premier League this season due to troubling hamstring injuries and Newcastle themselves endured a difficult campaign under Eddie Howe as they limped to a 12th place finish.
Bukayo Saka, another player ignored by Carragher and Neville, was the third and final Arsenal star to be selected in Sofascore’s XI.
Despite finally leading Arsenal to the title, Saka has not had his best season at the Emirates in terms of goals and assists, having also been plagued by injury setbacks throughout the season.
While his seven goals and seven assists from 31 appearances is nothing to be sniffed at, Saka’s all-round performances in a Gunners shirt clearly stood out to Sofascore as the England international picked up a 7.24 rating overall.
Jeremy Doku was recognised on the opposite flank after a season of marked improvement at Manchester City, eclipsing Saka with a rating of 7.39.
A surprise omission from the squad is Doku’s City team-mate Antoine Semenyo, who finished third in the Golden Boot race behind Erling Haaland and Igor Thiago with 17 goals, enjoying a fantastic campaign at both Bournemouth and later at the Etihad.
Haaland rounds out the team with a score of 7.31 after yet another Golden Boot-winning season, having smashed 27 goals in Pep Guardiola’s final season in charge.
