Who made Opta's team of the season?

Gabriel (Arsenal): One of the odder statistics of 2025-26 is that Arsenal central defender Gabriel Magalhaes ended the season with more Premier League goals and assists combined than the likes of Jorgen Strand Larsen (5) and Bernardo Silva (6) and as many as Bournemouth striker Evanilson (7).

Of his seven goal involvements (3 goals, 4 assists), six unsurprisingly came via set-pieces as the Brazilian caused chaos in opposition boxes, helping the Gunners to score a record 19 corner goals in 2025-26.

It is, of course, at the other end where Gabriel really stands out, ending the season with 17 clean sheets, which was more than any other defender despite being absent from eight starting XIs in 2025-26.

Arsenal conceded just 20 goals in 2,751 minutes with him on the pitch, an average of one every 138 minutes, which was the best by an Arsenal defender to play 2,000+ minutes since 2003-04, when Sol Campbell went 140 minutes between goals going in with him on the pitch.

William Saliba (Arsenal): Alongside Gabriel, who else but Saliba? The pair are forging a legendary Premier League central defensive partnership, losing just 15 of the 117 games they've played together for Arsenal and the Gunners concede on average a goal every 44 minutes more frequently when they aren't playing together since 2022-23.

Only Gabriel kept more clean sheets (17) than Saliba (15) during the 2025-26 Premier League season, with Arsenal conceding a goal every 131 minutes with Saliba on the pitch, the second-best of any defender this season behind… well, you guessed it, Gabriel.

On the ball, Saliba was accomplished, completing 92.9% of his passes, the third-best of any player to attempt 2,000 or more. He completed 67 passes per 90 minutes; on record since 2003-04, the only Arsenal defender with more in a season is Saliba in 2023-24 (69) and 2024-25 (71).

Adrien Truffert (Bournemouth): The sight of Truffert flying down the left-hand side of Bournemouth's flank is well known to Cherries fans and it is borne out in the data - the Frenchman was the only player to make more than 50 overlapping runs in the Premier League in 2025-26. It wasn't just on the outside either - he ranked in the top-five for underlapping runs, too.

Truffert was one of only three players to win possession in the defensive third 100+ times (105), while he was top for both interceptions (48) and for tackles (103) among full-backs.

He also made the most progressive ball carries of any full-back (279) and progressed the ball close to two miles upfield with ball carries, the second-most of any full-back.

He was the only Bournemouth outfield player to start all 38 matches of their historic Premier League campaign.

Declan Rice (Arsenal): It was another impressive season from the Arsenal midfielder, whose consistency has seen him play at least 30 Premier League matches in each of the last eight seasons. This season, he played 36 times for the Premier League champions.

Arsenal are the set-piece kings of the Premier League and Rice's deliveries are a huge part of that - he posted the highest expected assist from set-play total (3.3) and only Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Porro played more passes into the penalty area than Rice (258).

This season also saw personal bests for chances created (63), (behind only three players in the overall charts), set-play chances created (27) and big chances created (17) by Rice as the Gunners finally took the last step and won the division.

Rice's ball-carrying abilities also saw him lead the way for ball-carry distance (7,460m) and carry progress up the pitch (3,660m) among central midfielders, while he was the only central midfielder to carry the ball 100+ times into the opposition half.

Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest): Nottingham Forest's season may have had an element of chaos to it - the first team ever to have four permanent managers in a Premier League season - but the ever-present Anderson provided a degree of stability.

Among all players he had the most touches (3,300), won the most duels (297), won the most fouls (80), and won the most possession overall (306) as well as in the middle third (154) and defensive third of the pitch (127), while among central midfielders he made the most line-breaking passes (376), completed the most overall passes (2,038) and made the most dribbles (95).

He was the first player to win possession 300+ times and make 100+ tackles in a Premier League season since Declan Rice in 2019-20, and his 297 duels won were the best by an English midfielder in a campaign since records began in 2006-07. Out of possession he worked hard, too - his 1,895 high-intensity pressures were the most applied by a central midfielder.

Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool): Szoboszlai ended the season with four free-kick goals - the most ever by a Liverpool player in one season, and more than anyone else in 2025-26.

It wasn't only scoring spectacular goals where the Hungarian excelled this season - he was second only to Bruno Fernandes for creating chances (78), successful final third passes (660) and assists from set-play situations (5), while he was top for successful crosses (69).

He also led all Liverpool players for line-breaking passes in the final third (183) and possession won (187), all done while playing in a variety of positions - he spent 26% of his game time at right-back and 34% in attacking midfield; a truly versatile season.

Rayan Cherki (Man City): Cherki joined Manchester City in the summer having created 11 goals for Lyon in Ligue 1 in the 2024-25 season and he went one better in the 2025-26 Premier League season, assisting 12 goals to become just the fifth player with that many in their first campaign along with Eric Cantona in 1992-93 (16), Andrew Cole in 1993-94 (13), Juan Mata in 2011-12 (13) and Dimitri Payet in 2015-16 (12).

Cherki only started 19 games this season and per 90 minutes he averaged the most successful final-third passes (24) and the highest expected assist number (0.44), and only Bruno Fernandes created more chances (4) than the talented Frenchman (3).

Among players to play 1,500+ minutes in a season, only Ryan Giggs in 2001-02, Kevin de Bruyne in 2019-20 (both one every 140 minutes) and Bruno Fernandes this season (every 146 minutes) have assisted a goal more frequently than Cherki in 2025-26 (every 149 minutes).

Erling Haaland (Man City): The Premier League's Golden Boot winner for a third time in four seasons netted 27 goals in 2025-26, five more than he managed in 2024-25, while he enjoyed an impressive 21.4% conversion rate.

Haaland led all players for shots (126, his most in a season), shots on target (59), xG (26) and touches in the opposition box (213), as well as scoring the most goals via a ball carry (6) and netting 10 match-winning goals - three more than anyone else in 2025-26 and the most since Haaland himself in 2022-23 (10).

Perhaps more surprisingly, only three players ended the season with more assists than the Norwegian did (8).

Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd): Without doubt the easiest inclusion for this season's best team, Bruno Fernandes broke the Premier League record for assists in a season with 21, overtaking Thierry Henry in 2002-03 and De Bruyne in 2019-20 (both 20) as the most creative player in a season in the history of the competition. The underlying numbers behind it were even more extraordinary.

Fernandes created 136 chances, which was far and away more than the next best (Dominik Szoboszlai, 78). That is a record gap between the two most creative players in a Premier League season Opta has on record since 2003-04.

And in that time, only Mesut Ozil for Arsenal in 2015-16 has created more chances in one season (146), with Fernandes' 136 the most in any of Europe's big-five leagues since De Bruyne also created 136 in 2019-20.

Fernandes led the way for open-play chances created (98), big chances created (33), expected assists (12.3), open-play expected assists (9.1), passes into the box (326), through balls (39), successful final third passes (662) and line-breaking passes in the final third (210). He also ended the season fourth for shots attempted (85).

From Michael Carrick's first game on 17 January until the end of the season, Fernandes created 37 more chances than any other player (80) and his per 90 minutes total of 4.7 chances created under Carrick is the best ratio of any player under one manager on record since 2003-04.