Premier League XI of the season so far: England reject Ward-Prowse joins Saka and Maddison
We’re 12 games into the Premier League season and this is the XI that has wowed so far.
We have used WhoScored ratings as a guide. No players with fewer than six starts are included.
GOALKEEPER: Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham)
We were wrong. It looked like an unnecessary risk to bring in the uncapped Italian when David Raya was right there, but Vicario has barely put a foot or glove awry. He has the best saves percentage in the Premier League and it’s not even remotely close. He conceded four goals v Chelsea and was still brilliant.
RIGHT-BACK: Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United)
Six Premier League assists in 12 games and not too shabby defensively either.
CENTRE-BACK: Joachim Andersen (Crystal Palace)
Palace have conceded the fewest goals in the bottom half of the Premier League and a major factor is the form of Andersen, who is far better on the ball than he is given credit for. The algorithms like tangibles so scoring a couple of goals and grabbing an assist certainly helps.
CENTRE-BACK: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
A couple of Premier League assists help the algorithm but it’s his prowess in the air that earns him his place here; he wins more than double the number of aerial duels of Cristian Romero per game. Add an impressive pass completion percentage and some vital blocks and he is rightly restored to this XI.
LEFT-BACK: Vitalii Mykolenko (Everton)
Made more successful tackles from left-back than any other player this season and he has only played in eight Premier League games. He was excellent in keeping Jarrod Bowen quiet in the Premier League win that took them five points clear of the relegation zone. And he scored v Brighton and Crystal Palace.
CENTRE MIDFIELD: Rodri (Manchester City)
The best in the world in his position? Quite possibly. Casually added goals to his repertoire while posting a 94% pass completion rate and doing all the dirty defensive work too. Too dirty v Forest, mind.
CENTRE MIDFIELD: James Ward-Prowse (West Ham)
The set-piece king. Those five assists (and two goals) get him in this team ahead of Conor Gallagher and Declan Rice, though it does not get him near the England team ahead of Jordan Henderson. Sigh.
RIGHT WING: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Four goals and four assists this season but it’s defensive work that keeps him way ahead of Mo Salah here.
ATTACKING MIDFIELD: James Maddison (Tottenham)
The most creative player in the Premier League this season. He has also logged three goals and five assists. What a signing.
LEFT WING: Jeremy Doku (Manchester City)
Casually claimed four Premier League assists v Bournemouth to earn him a rare 10.00 rating on WhoScored. Remarkably, he is only 21 and will only get better.
STRIKER: Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
You just cannot argue with 13 Premier League goals in 12 games. Nor with all these other ridiculous statistics.
