The 2025/26 Premier League season had everything. A 22-year wait ended. A 23-year-old assist record fell. A striker hit 27 goals for the third time in four years. West Ham went down after 14 straight seasons in the top flight. Bournemouth qualified for Europe for the first time in their history under a manager who lost his entire defence in one summer.
Arsenal finally got over the line. 85 points to Man City's 78, 71 goals scored, a league-best 27 conceded. Mikel Arteta's wait is over. Manchester United climbed back to third under Michael Carrick. Aston Villa won the Europa League. Liverpool fell off a cliff. And one Portuguese midfielder spent the season being asked to play out of position and still rewrote the record books.
Here is the MSport Best XI of the season, picked on data, not noise.
🧤 GK: David Raya — Arsenal 🇪🇸
📊 19 clean sheets · 37 appearances · Three consecutive Golden Gloves · Equalled David Seaman's Arsenal clean sheet record
Three Golden Gloves in a row. Only Pepe Reina, Joe Hart and Ederson have managed that, and Raya is now one short of equalling the all-time record of four held by Petr Cech and Hart.
19 clean sheets in 37 league appearances, equalling David Seaman's Arsenal record from 1993/94 and 1998/99. He played more minutes than any other Arsenal player this season. With Arsenal grinding out eight 1-0 wins, every save mattered. He delivered when it counted, including the late stop from Mateus Fernandes in the West Ham game that probably won them the title.
➡️ RB: Matheus Nunes — Manchester City 🇵🇹
📊 514 ball carries (most among PL full-backs) · 5,575m distance carried · 1,153 passes completed in opposition half · 88.4% completion rate
A converted midfielder who has now made right-back his home. 98% of his Premier League minutes in 2025/26 came at right-back, and the numbers explain why Pep won't move him back.
Most ball carries among full-backs, most distance carried, and 1,153 passes completed in the opposition half — more than any other player in the division. On the defensive side, his 67% true tackle success rate was second only to Ruben Dias among City regulars. Pure modern full-back.
🛡️ CB: William Saliba — Arsenal 🇫🇷
📊 Dribbled past just 7 times all season · 92.9% pass completion (3rd among players with 2,000+ passes) · 15 clean sheets in 26 starts alongside Gabriel
The calmness behind the title. Saliba was dribbled past just seven times all season, and only Virgil van Dijk (two) and Ezri Konsa (four) were beaten fewer times by an opponent. His 92.9% pass completion was the third-best of any player to attempt 2,000+ passes.
Arsenal kept 15 clean sheets in 26 league starts together with Gabriel, averaging a shutout every 1.7 games. No other centre-back pairing came close.
🛡️ CB: Gabriel Magalhães — Arsenal 🇧🇷
📊 17 clean sheets (most among all defenders) · 1 goal conceded per 138 mins on pitch · 3 goals · 4 assists · 13 first contacts from corners
The Brazilian was in the Player of the Season conversation until Bruno went nuclear in May. 17 clean sheets, more than any other defender in the league. While Gabriel was on the pitch, Arsenal conceded one goal every 138 minutes — the best ratio of any defender with 2,000+ minutes.
He added the attacking dimension too: 3 goals, 4 assists, and 13 first contacts from Arsenal corners, more than any other Gunner. Set-pieces are now a defining Arteta weapon, and Gabriel is the head it goes to. The £27 million Arsenal paid Lille five years ago looks more ridiculous by the season.
⬅️ LB: Adrien Truffert — Bournemouth 🇫🇷
📊 5 assists · 50+ overlapping runs (only PL full-back to do so) · 103 tackles · 48 interceptions · Started all 38 league games
Replacing Milos Kerkez was supposed to be impossible. Truffert made it look easy. The only player in the Premier League to make 50+ overlapping runs this season, and one of those overlaps set up Junior Kroupi's goal against Manchester City — the result that ended City's title chase.
Five assists (only Lucas Digne had more among defenders with six), 103 tackles and 48 interceptions, both league-highs among full-backs. He started all 38 league matches, the only Bournemouth outfielder to do so. Andoni Iraola sold half his defence and replaced one of them with an upgrade. That's recruitment.
⚙️ DM: Elliot Anderson — Nottingham Forest 🏴
📊 3,300 touches (most in PL) · 298 duels won · 306 possession won · 2,038 passes completed (most by any CM) · 376 line-breaking passes · 23 years old
The standout midfielder in the league outside of the top four. Forest dropped off badly after their European push last season, but Anderson refused to drag down with them.
The numbers are absurd. Most touches in the league. Most duels won. Most possession won. Most fouls won. Most passes completed by any central midfielder. Most line-breaking passes by any central midfielder. Second across all midfielders for high-intensity pressures and second for total distance covered. He turned 23 in November.
England's midfield problem is solved. Forest just have to figure out how to keep him.
⚙️ CM: Declan Rice — Arsenal 🏴
📊 3,099 minutes (most among Arsenal outfielders) · 63 chances created (team high) · 7.0 xA · 3.3 xA from set-pieces (PL high) · 5.2 possession regains per 90
Fourth consecutive Opta Team of the Season, first one as champion. More minutes than any other Arsenal outfielder. Missed one league game all season.
63 chances created (team high), 7.0 expected assists (second only to Saka's 7.2), and the highest xA from corners and indirect free-kicks of any player in the league. He's not just running the engine room anymore. He's running set-pieces, possession regains, and increasingly the games themselves. Worth every penny of the £105 million.
🎯 AM: Bruno Fernandes — Manchester United 🇵🇹
📊 21 assists (new PL all-time single-season record) · 136 chances created (58 more than any other player) · 98 open-play chances created · 12.3 xA · 11 set-piece assists (joint PL record)
The Premier League's all-time single-season assist record. 21 assists in one campaign, breaking the previous mark of 20 jointly held by Thierry Henry (2002/03) and Kevin De Bruyne (2019/20).
What makes it ridiculous is the context. Ruben Amorim spent the first half of the season playing him out of position as a defensive midfielder. Carrick took over, restored him to his natural No.10 role, and United climbed to third. The output: 136 chances created, 58 more than any other player in the league. The closest comparison for chances created in a single season is Mesut Özil's 146 in 2015/16. That's the company he kept. Best player in the league this season.
🇬🇭 RW: Antoine Semenyo — Bournemouth / Manchester City
📊 17 goals · 4 assists · FA Cup final winner vs Chelsea · 10G/3A at Bournemouth before January · 7G/1A in 17 starts at Man City after
The Ghanaian had two seasons in one. 10 goals and 3 assists at Bournemouth before January, then 7 goals and 1 assist in 17 starts after his move to Manchester City, plus the winning goal in the FA Cup final against Chelsea.
What sets Semenyo apart from the usual mid-table mover is how seamlessly he stepped into Pep Guardiola's system. Most players need a season to adjust. He started winning games immediately. Pep doesn't normally trust new signings that quickly. Semenyo broke the rule. A proud one for Ghana football.
⚡ LW: Morgan Rogers — Aston Villa 🏴
📊 10 goals · 6 assists · Spectacular solo strikes vs Tottenham, Leeds, West Ham and Manchester United — all single-goal Villa wins
Aston Villa finished fourth and won the Europa League. Rogers carried the creative load through both campaigns. 10 goals and 6 assists in the league, with spectacular solo strikes against Tottenham, Leeds, West Ham and Manchester United, all games Villa won by single goals.
He played behind the striker for Unai Emery most of the season, but his goals weren't team-built. They were his own moments of brilliance. Without Rogers, Villa probably aren't in Europe at all next season. England's Euro 2028 squad is taking shape early.
⚽ CF: Erling Haaland — Manchester City 🇳🇴
📊 27 goals (3rd Golden Boot in 4 years) · 21.4% shot conversion · 8 assists · Scored in 5 consecutive league games twice this season
Third Golden Boot in four years, joining Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah (4 each) and Alan Shearer and Harry Kane (3) as the only players to win the award three or more times.
21.4% shot conversion rate, keeping up his career-long record of converting over 20% of his shots in every Premier League season he's played. Eight assists, equalling his best Premier League return. City finished second. Pep is leaving. The team around him is being rebuilt. None of it slowed Haaland down. He's now scored 49 league goals across the last two seasons during what's been a relative dip for the club. That's the definition of a generational striker.
🏆 MSport Manager of the Season: Andoni Iraola — Bournemouth 🇪🇸
Mikel Arteta won the title. Unai Emery won a European trophy and finished fourth. But Iraola's job was the hardest, and arguably the most impressive.
Bournemouth lost Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid, Ilya Zabarnyi to PSG, and Milos Kerkez to Liverpool before the season started. They sold Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City in January for a club-record fee. After that sale, Bournemouth did not lose one of their remaining 17 league games. European football, for the first time in club history.
Marco Rose has been handed the project. He's also been handed an impossible act to follow.
That Was 2025/26. Roll on 2026/27.
Arsenal end the 22-year wait. Bruno breaks an English football record. Haaland keeps scoring. Bournemouth keep proving the rest of the league wrong. Brentford lose Toney and replace him with a 22-goal striker who's now going to a World Cup with Brazil.
The season delivered everything it promised and a few things nobody saw coming. Which is exactly what it's supposed to do.
Written for MSport
