After a thrilling end to the English top-flight campaign, GOAL selects a line up made up of the best performers in the 2021-22 season
The Premier League season is over for another year, with Manchester City again crowned champions after a dramatic final-day win over Aston Villa.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham will join them in the Champions League next season, while Arsenal and Manchester United will have to make do with Europa League football.
It was a season with many memorable moments and where a host of top names put in consistently high-level performances on a weekly basis.
But which players deserve a place in GOAL's Premier League Team of the Season?
Getty ImagesGK: Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)
Arsenal finished two points short of fourth place, due primarily to an unexpected lift Tottenham received from hiring a world-class manager in Antonio Conte mid-season, but we should not let that obscure the huge progress Mikel Arteta has made, having come eighth in each of the last two seasons.
That would not have been possible without Ramsdale, who was considered a waste of money at £24 million last summer, but turned out to be the perfect fit, pulling off brilliant saves throughout the campaign as well as laying the foundation for Arteta’s tactics with his intelligent distribution.
The goalkeeper's season tailed off as Arsenal’s did, and yet more than anyone else in the Gunners' squad, Ramsdale’s leadership, vocal instructions to his error-prone defenders, and technical ability represents Arsenal’s upward trajectory through 2021-22.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesRB: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
In a campaign in which the Liverpool right-back completed the set in terms of top-flight trophy wins with the FA Cup, doing so at the tender age of 23, it is only right that we recognise another remarkable season for Alexander-Arnold – whose brilliance ought not to be normalised.
Only Mohamed Salah bagged more Premier League assists this season than Alexander-Arnold’s 12, while he made the most open-play crosses in the division (127) and ranked seventh among all players for total shot-creating passes in open play.
He was, as ever, a relentless creative presence on the right flank, which was particularly important during an extended period of 2021-22 when Andrew Robertson was below his best on the left.
Jurgen Klopp has consistently relied upon Alexander-Arnold’s capacity to drive forward and, especially against deeper defences, swing dangerous crosses into the box.
Getty ImagesCB: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Although Liverpool’s talismanic centre-back has been slightly below his best at times this season, Van Dijk remains the Premier League’s top defender.
He deserves to make this list for the commanding way in which he has led his team through an exhausting campaign, despite missing the vast majority of 2020-21 through injury.
You only have to look at the way Liverpool wobbled against Wolves on the final day of the season, when Ibrahima Konate and Joel Matip were pulled all over the place by Pedro Neto and Raul Jimenez, to see Van Dijk’s influence.
He is their calming presence: an unflappable character whose deceptive pace and strength ensure Liverpool are always in control of the situation.
CB: Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Last year's Premier League Player of the Season has quietly continued his brilliant form through another title-winning campaign for Manchester City, leading Pep Guardiola’s very high defensive line and ensuring it is not as vulnerable as it ought to be.
What marks Dias out from his team-mates is his battling personality; he is not afraid to get stuck in and will not be bullied, which has been particularly important in a season when Guardiola has been forced to change his back four more often than he would have liked.
He makes more clearances (2.2 per game) than any other City player, reflecting an ability to be no-nonsense when it matters. It is a welcome counterpoint to Aymeric Laporte and John Stones, who can both look a little light in the challenge.