LosMejor’s Premier League Team of the Year – 2018/19
EPL Team of the Year 2018/19 - Los Mejor
With the Barclays Premier League 2018-19 season coming to an end in just 2 weeks, we have put together the Team of the Year for this season.
Formation: 4-3-3
We have chosen the most successful 4-3-3 formation that has been used by both the title contenders – Manchetser City and Liverpool.
Goalkeeper: Ederson (Man City)
Honourable Mentions: Alisson Becker* (Liverpool), Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham Utd), Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea)
Ederson has been exceptional for Manchester City with his reflexes and distribution. The City number 31 is the perfect sweeper keeper who often bails his side out of trouble when their defence maintaining a high-line gets breached. Most of the goals conceded by Ederson in the Premier League were unstoppable like Andre Townsend’s screamer.
We had a big dilemma on whether to go with Ederson or Alisson as both Brazilians had a good year. We chose Ederson for two reasons:
- Ederson is extremely good with his feet. There is no comparison to which Brazilian keeper is better when it comes to distribution.
- Alisson Becker has more number of clean sheets but the Liverpool number 13 has made three errors that has led to goals despite playing behind the best defence in the league marshalled by Van Dijk. Ederson has not make the kind of errors made by the Liverpool keeper.
Centre-Backs: Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) & Aymeric Laporte (Man City)
Honourable Mentions: Willy Bolly* (Wolves), Fabian Schar (Newcastle Utd), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur)
Virgil Van Dijk has easily been Liverpool’s best player of the season and there was not one instance in the entire season where we could point to the towering Dutchman and say he could have done better. His reading of the game has been flawless. Van Dijk is the major reason behind Liverpool having more clean sheets than Manchester City.
Aymeric Laporte is the only man from Manchester City’s defence who made it to our TOTY. Barring Van Dijk, the French defender’s positioning has been the best in the Premier League. Laporte has been instrumental in Man City playing all the way from the back. The 24 year old centre-back has made more passes than any defender in the Premier League and has also chipped in with 2 assists and 2 goals.
Left-Back: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
Honourable Mentions: Lucas Digne* (Everton), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City)
Andrew Robertson is a highly energetic left back who has been extremely reliable for Jurgen Klopp’s side. The Scottish defender has bagged 11 assists so far this season which is higher than any other Liverpool player.
Lucas Digne has been equally good and it was tough to split these two. While Digne has been arguably better than Robertson defensively, we chose Robertson in the starting XI for his attacking skills. To make sure the back four is defensively stable, we chose a more defensive right-back to make up for this selection. If some one selected Digne at left-back and an attacking right-back, we won’t disagree with their selection.
Right-Back: Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Crystal Palace)
Honourable Mentions: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Kyle Walker (Man City)
At just 21 years old and playing for a mid-table side, Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s performances have been incredible this season. He is easily the best defensive right-back in the league. While Trent Alexander-Arnold has been the best attacking right back in the league, Wan-Bissaka is head and shoulders above Trent when their defensive stats are compared.
Wan-Bissaka has won 231 duels & lost only 114. His tackling success percentage is 69% and when it comes to aerial battles, the Crystal Palace defender has won 42 and lost just 28. Trent Alexander-Arnold on the other hand has only won 150 duels and lost 170. His tackling success percentage of 67 is also lower than the Crystal Palace right back. Trent is very poor in aerial battles and has won only 12 of them and lost 40. That’s why we have gone with Aaron Wan-Bissaka instead of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Central Defensive Midfielder: Fernandinho (Man City)
Honourable Mentions: Idrissa Gueye* (Everton), Wilfried Ndidi (Leicester City)
Fernandinho is arguably the most important piece in Pep Guadiola’s Man City jigsaw. Without the Brazilian, Man City have struggled and their losses to Crystal Palace and Leicester City this season came in the absence of their stellar defensive midfielder.
His tackle success rate is at a massive 75% and that’s why Man City look assured when Fernandinho plays. At 33 years old, he is still at his peak and with vast experience, we think he is the right man to lead the TOTY.
Central Midfielders: Bernardo Silva (Man City), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur)
Honourable Mentions: Gylfi Sigurdsson* (Everton), James Maddison (Leicester City), David Silva (Man City), Filipe Anderson (West Ham)
Bernardo Silva is currently leading the race to be named Man City’s Player of the season. Despite his silky touch, high energy, versatility and willingness to track back, he is vastly underrated outside the City of Manchester.
He doesn’t score or assist a lot but comes up with important goals and assists in big games. With his speciality of not losing the ball in tight spaces, he is a nightmare to any defender with Luke Shaw being the latest victim in the Manchester derby. In the absence of Kevin De Bruyne who missed most parts of the season with injuries, Bernardo Silva has nailed a spot in the TOTY by being as influential this season as Kevin was in the previous one.
Christian Eriksen has been the standout performer of Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur. He has contributed to Tottenham’s top 4 ambition with 7 goals and 12 assists this season. His creative output has been good but what makes him a standout performer is his positional intelligence and the ability to make the crucial pass to the likes of Son and Kane. He is extremely versatile and can play anywhere in the midfield like Bernardo Silva.
Both Bernardo Silva and Christian Eriksen are the best central midfielders to play in a high-pressing system and both of them are elite passers. While this is a slightly exaggerated comparison, they can be the current generation’s Xavi and Iniesta if they play together.
Left Wing: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Honourable Mentions: Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Leroy Sane (Man City)
Eden Hazard has carried Chelsea into the top 4. His flamboyant dribbling is the best in the Premier League. The Belgian captain has scored 16 goals and assisted 13 times, which makes him the leader of the combined goals and assists tally (29). Sadio Mane was the closest contender to Eden Hazard for the Left Wing spot. Despite having better support than the brilliant Belgian, Sadio Mane managed to grab just one assist in the entire season which is why he trails Hazard in the combined goals and assists tally (21).
Right Wing: Raheem Sterling (Man City)
Honourable Mentions: Mo Salah* (Liverpool), Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Leroy Sane (Man City)
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Raheem Sterling has been in la la land this season and has scored 17 goals and grabbed 10 assists but what made us choose Raheem ahead of Mo Salah is the English attacker’s performances in big away games. Sterling has either assisted or scored in huge away matches against Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.
On the contrary, Salah failed to deliver in big away matches this season and that’s why we gave Sterling the right wing spot in our TOTY.
Centre Forward: Sergio Aguero (Man City)
Honourable Mentions: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang* (Arsenal), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
There are only a couple of strikers in the entire world who are as lethal as Sergio Aguero. The Argentine striker has netted 19 times this season from just 30 games. He is in the race for the Golden Boot and is just 2 short of Mo Salah who has played six games more than the Argentine. The only other centre-forward who has as many goals as Aguero is Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
We chose Sergio Aguero ahead of the Arsenal striker because of the number of times Sergio has created scoring opportunities for his team-mates. Man City’s leading goal scorer of all times has also bagged 8 assists this season.
BENCH: Alisson Becker (Liverpool), Lucas Digne (Everton), Willy Boly (Wolves), Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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