Football writer Alex Keble selects his best XI of players from an incredible 2025.
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
Aston Villa’s rise towards the summit of the Premier League table has a lot to do with having such a dependable goalkeeper who, despite an error on the final day of 2024/25, has had another starring calendar year.
Villa's Martinez has conceded fewer goals (27) in 2025 than any other goalkeeper who has played at least 30 matches, made the most saves (94) of any goalkeeper playing in the top six and saved 76.2 per cent of his shots faced, more than anyone else in the Premier League.
Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace)
One of the most dependable players in Oliver Glasner’s FA Cup-winning Crystal Palace side, Munoz is arguably the only top-half Premier League right-back/right wing-back who has performed to a consistently high level throughout 2025.
Munoz created 34 chances and 10 big chances in the calendar year, on both counts the second-most among Premier League right-backs, behind Pedro Porro.
William Saliba (Arsenal)
Both of Arsenal’s first-choice centre-backs have been exceptional this year but Saliba was more prominent, playing in 32 Premier League games in 2025 compared to Gabriel Magalhaes’ 24.
Arsenal conceded just 23 goals in the 32 matches that Saliba has started in the Premier League in 2025.
He is a calm, no-fuss defender and an underrated reason for the Gunners’ excellent defensive record this season.
Arsenal have kept clean sheets in seven of the 12 matches Gabriel has played in the Premier League in 2025/26. That’s 58 per cent.
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
It has been a difficult first half of the 2025/26 season for Liverpool captain Van Dijk but he deserves to be in team of the year for his part in the 2024/25 title victory.
Van Dijk’s calming presence, his immaculate distribution, and his command of the penalty area was the foundation for Liverpool’s slow and steady march to becoming champions.
Over the calendar year, he tops the charts for duel percentage (72.8 per cent) and aerial duel percentage (74.8 per cent), and ranks second for total clearances made (260).
Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)
Over the last 12 months, Cucurella has developed into one of the best full-backs in the world, in no small part thanks to the tactical sophistication Enzo Maresca has brought to the position.
Cucurella often flits between left-back, left wing, defensive midfield, and box-crashing No 8 – sometimes all in the same move.
Unsurprisingly, he is at the epicentre of everything Chelsea do and he tops the 2025 Premier League charts for chances created among left-backs (31).
Moises Caicedo (Chelsea)
There is an argument to be made that Caicedo is now the best central midfielder in the Premier League, and, therefore, in the conversation for best midfielder in the world.
He is the complete, all-action player, driving Chelsea forward and effortlessly breaking up play.
As you might expect, nobody in the Premier League made as many tackles and interceptions (148) as Caicedo in 2025.
Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
Nobody in English football has seen their stock rise over the last 12 months as much as Anderson, who is now a regular starter for England and considered to be among the most talented players of his generation.
He helped Nottingham Forest qualify for the UEFA Europa League last season but has gone up yet another level in 2025/26.
Over the calendar year, he tops the charts for recoveries (280), possessions won in the defensive third (123), and possessions won in the middle third (133).
On the ball, he’s even better, although the defence-first approach of Sean Dyche and Nuno Espirito Santo means the progressive side of his game doesn’t show up in the statistics.
Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
Another difficult year for Manchester United, another exceptional one for Fernandes, who continues to defy the form of his team-mates to carry the club – almost single-handedly at times – through matches.
Remarkably, given Man Utd’s historic low finish in 2024/25, when they finished 15th, Fernandes created more chances (103) than any other Premier League player in 2025.
He also topped the charts for assists (12) and for through-balls played (38).
Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
An emerging propensity to score long-range screamers has propelled Rogers into a new stratosphere, but even before he found a novel way to make the most difficult action in football look simple, Rogers was one of the best players around.
Aston Villa’s No 27 is the first name on Unai Emery’s team sheet and the de facto leader of a club launching an unlikely title challenge in 2025/26.
His 10 assists in 2025 is bettered only by Fernandes, while only five Premier League players have more combined goals and assists than Rogers' 19 this year.
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
He might have dropped off in 2025/26 but Salah’s first five months of the year more than make up for that, as the statistics indicate.
Across the calendar year, Salah created the second-most chances in the Premier League (85) and the most big chances (19), as well as finishing second – behind Erling Haaland – for total goals and assist, with 24.
Salah was the most important player in the Liverpool team that won the Premier League title. Forget what happened next; that’s enough to get him in this team.
Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
There is no competition for the striker spot. Haaland’s sensational first half of the 2025/26 season puts him way out in front for Premier League goals this calendar year (27), scoring 10 more than his closest competitor Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Pep Guardiola’s move to a more direct and less positional, pass-heavy football – a shift from rigid control to a looser, vibes-based style of play – seems to have released the best of Haaland, whose form has accelerated since the summer.
With six assists, Haaland also leads the Premier League charts for combined goals and assists (33). The Norwegian is improving both inside and outside the box.