As of today, this Premier League Team of the Season so far is gloriously lopsided, slightly reckless on the whiteboard, and pretty hard to argue with once you get into the numbers. It is a 3-3-4 in spirit, with João Pedro nudged a little wide because leaving him out would be crazier than the shape itself.

There is one caveat worth pointing out early. Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guéhi have both changed clubs during the campaign, Semenyo joining Manchester City from Bournemouth in January and Guéhi following from Crystal Palace later that month. Yet they have kept their level up and proved they can perform wherever. The season counts in full, not just from the moment the winter transfer window slammed shut and so they’re in.

The XI

So the team reads like this: David Raya in goal; Daniel Muñoz, Gabriel Magalhães and Marc Guéhi across the back; Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson and Bruno Fernandes in midfield; then Antoine Semenyo, Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago and João Pedro up top, with Pedro forgiven for living a little right of centre.

Right wing, a bit like left-back this season, has not exactly been overflowing with irresistible candidates. Joao Pedro gets the shirt because production is production.

GK: David Raya, clean-sheet machine

Raya gets in because he has been the league’s most reliable end point. He leads the Premier League with 14 clean sheets and has conceded only 22 goals in 30 appearances, numbers that have put him on track for another Golden Glove.

There are flashier goalkeepers, and there are busier goalkeepers, but no one has been more central to turning a title challenge into reality. He is the sort of keeper whose best work often looks boring until you realise boring is exactly what title winners need.

Best game: Brighton 0-1 Arsenal. Several superb second-half saves to preserve the clean sheet and secure three points.

The back three: wing-back mayhem and centre-back menace

Muñoz gets the edge over Jurrien Timber because his season has once again been one long argument for abolishing positional purity. In 21 league appearances he has posted three goals and two assists, while also piling up 49 tackles, 20 interceptions and 75 clearances.

That is a full afternoon’s work every afternoon. He gives you defender numbers, wing-back numbers and occasional rogue-forward numbers, all bundled into the same permanently overclocked player. In a year where the right-sided shortlist has felt thinner than it should, Muñoz has made the decision easier by being impossible to ignore.

Best game: Burnley 0-1 Crystal Palace. Scored the winner and dominated the flank for ninety relentless minutes.

Gabriel is here because he has been both Arsenal’s wall and one of their most reliably savage set-piece weapons. His season line reads three goals, four assists and more than 150 clearances, which is an absurd amount of end product for a centre-back who also spends half his weekend removing danger from his own box. DEFCON FPL hero…

The thing with Gabriel is that he does not merely defend attacks, he ends them. Then he goes up the other end and turns a corner into a royal rumble arena.

Best game: Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal. Stoppage-time winner from a towering set-piece header.

Guéhi’s year has had two acts, Palace captain and then Manchester City January addition, but the overall body of work is excellent either way. He has two goals and two assists in the league, along with near 150 clearances and more than 30 interceptions.

The appeal is not only the output. It is the ease. Guéhi always seems to have time, even when everybody else is playing in fast-forward. A TOTS back three needs at least one defender who looks like the game has slowed down especially for him. He’s now got the big move he coveted and he looks completely at ease.

Best game: Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace. Dominant defensively and added a goal in a commanding away performance.

The midfield: power, control and the league’s best creator

Rice is the no-brainer. He has four goals and five assists in the league, but that barely scratches the surface of why he belongs. He has also created more than 50 chances and delivered a huge number of passes in the final third.

That is the profile of a midfielder doing three jobs at once and making each one look natural. He can cover space like a destroyer, carry the ball like a modern eight, and arrive in the box like a player who has finally realised he is allowed to decide games.

Arsenal’s midfield has shape because Rice gives it a spine.

Best game: Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal. Two goals and a commanding midfield display to drag Arsenal to victory.

Elliot Anderson is the choice that makes people nod once they think about it for five seconds. Nottingham Forest’s season has been jagged and stressful, but Anderson has been one of the clearest bright spots in the division.

He has two goals and two assists, plus more than 80 tackles and over 30 interceptions. The broader point is that he seems to be everywhere all the time. He presses, carries, recycles, bites into duels and still finds moments of calm with the ball.

There is a lot of fashionable talk every season about complete midfielders. Anderson has quietly been one. England squad impending…?

Arsenal are making real moves behind the scenes, and Elliot Anderson is at the centre of it. ✨

The club believes pairing him with Declan Rice could create one of the most complete midfield units in English football.🔥 pic.twitter.com/CZv7c3qlPt

— 365Scores (@365Scores) March 6, 2026

Best game: Manchester City 2-2 Nottingham Forest. Thunderous equaliser and a tireless all-action midfield performance.

Then there is Bruno Fernandes, who is not quietly anything. Fourteen Premier League assists is the headline, and it is the biggest one in this team outside the goalscorers.

The supporting case is just as loud: seven goals, around 90 chances created and more than 20 big chances created. He is not just leading the assist race, he is driving it like he is late for something.

The all-time single-season Premier League assist record is 20, and Bruno is close enough that it has become a genuine conversation.

Best game: Wolves 1-4 Manchester United. Two goals, one assist. Completely controlled the match.

Bruno Fernandes is on the brink of writing his name into Manchester United history.

With just TWO more assists needed in the final nine Premier League games, he’s closing in on breaking David Beckham’s long-standing single-season assist record.

Will he surpass him and cement… pic.twitter.com/u71KVdteK9

— 365Scores (@365Scores) March 5, 2026

The front four: goals first, symmetry later

This is where the whole thing turns from respectable into wonderfully greedy.

Semenyo starts on the right, even if that is only partly true on the tactics board, because he has been one of the season’s most relentless scorers. He has 15 league goals and four assists, including 10 goals before leaving Bournemouth and five more since his January switch to City.

Right wing has been thin this season, but Semenyo has solved that by simply being too productive to ignore. He drives inside, attacks space in transition and constantly forces defenders backwards.

Best game: Manchester City 3-0 Fulham. One goal, one assist and a devastating performance down the right.

Haaland remains the default setting for Premier League goalscoring excellence. Twenty-two goals, seven assists and dozens of shots on target is not just another good Haaland season. It is another season where the Golden Boot race begins with everybody else looking up.

Even when Manchester City have had uneven stretches, Haaland’s finishing has remained inevitable.

Best game: Fulham 4-5 Manchester City. Landmark goal in a wild game that perfectly captured his scoring instincts.

Igor Thiago has been the great TOTS gatecrasher. Brentford’s striker has 18 league goals and one of the highest expected-goals totals in the division, while constantly finding dangerous spaces in the penalty area.

He has become Haaland’s closest challenger in the scoring charts without the luxury of playing in one of the league’s glamour attacks. The most impressive part is how natural it all feels. No hype cycle, just consistent scoring.

Best game: Everton 2-4 Brentford. Hat-trick and a complete centre-forward performance.

🇧🇷 Igor Thiago joins an ELITE Brazilian club!

Since 2015/16, only these Brazilians have scored 15+ goals in a single season in Europe’s top 5 leagues:

🔥 Neymar (twice)
🔥 Raphinha
🔥 Vinícius Júnior
🔥 Igor Thiago (new entry!)

Welcome to the list. 👊 pic.twitter.com/fIewxEuUu6

— 365Scores (@365Scores) January 10, 2026

Then João Pedro, who gets pushed slightly wide simply because the line-up has become too stacked to worry about neatness. He has 14 league goals and five assists, with ALL of those goals coming from open play rather than penalties.

That detail matters because it shows how much of his scoring has come from movement, touch and creativity rather than spot-kicks. His recent hat-trick display against Aston Villa summed up his season.

Best game: Aston Villa 1-4 Chelsea. Hat-trick that turned the match and underlined his TOTS credentials.

A hat trick and an assist in a 4:2 victory over Aston Villa! Chelsea’s João Pedro is without a shadow of a doubt our Most Impactful Player of the Week! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/CeuQaUTlUg

— 365Scores (@365Scores) March 10, 2026

Why the weird shape actually makes sense

A proper Team of the Season should reward the players who have genuinely defined the campaign, not just tick positional boxes. That is why this team leans into the 3-3-4 rather than forcing a few square pegs into round holes.

Right wing has been thin. Left-back has been thin. But Muñoz, Rice, Bruno, Haaland and João Pedro have been impossible to leave out. Once you accept that, the shape stops looking strange and starts looking honest.

FAQs

Why Muñoz over Timber in the Premier League TOTS?
Muñoz edges it due to his defensive output combined with attacking contributions from wing-back.

Why is João Pedro listed wide in the Premier League TOTS?
Simply to fit him into the side. His performances have been too strong to leave him out.

Do January transfers count in Premier League TOTS selections?
Yes. The team reflects performances across the entire Premier League season.

Why no specialist left-back in the Premier League TOTS?
There has not been a clear standout candidate at the position this season.

Who is the unluckiest omission infromthe Premier League TOTS?
Jurrien Timber is probably the closest player to making the team.

By Nicky Helfgott – NickyHelfgott1 on X (Twitter)

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