By Toby Cudworth
Another Premier League season is in the books.
Manchester City are still champions after winning the division for a record fourth successive time, Liverpool are now Jurgen Klopp-less after his shock resignation, Arsenal are still the nearly team of the Premier League, and Manchester United are, well, Manchester United.
2023/24 also saw Aston Villa rise from European hopefuls into Champions League participants and Chelsea, under the guidance of Mauricio Pochettino, seemingly get their sh*t together after months and months (and months) of complete and utter carnage.
We also said goodbye to last season's three promoted teams - Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United - and saw a record 1,246 goals scored in a year that proved nobody really knows how to defend.
With all that in mind, here's 90min's team of the season.
GK: Andre Onana
It's been a wretched season for Erik ten Hag's Manchester United, make no mistake about it.
It also looked as though it could be a wretched season for goalkeeper Andre Onana, who looked dreadfully shaky in the first couple of months of his Old Trafford career and couldn't stop making mistakes.
But then something changed for Onana - namely the sheer volume of shots raining down on his goal each and every week. With Ten Hag seemingly happy to let his goalkeeper earn his money, Onana did exactly that. In total, he saved 146 shots during thePremier League season - more than any other goalkeeper - and had the highest save percentage at 74.9% - again, more than any other goalkeeper.
RB: Kyle Walker
Ben White was absolutely brilliant at right-back for Arsenal, playing a crucial role in their ultimately unsuccessful Premier League title bid.
But for all of his brilliance - and there was plenty of it on show across 2023/24 - there's still one right-back who continues to set the standard in the Premier League. Manchester City captain Kyle Walker.
His blistering pace, for all intents and purposes, is basically a cheat code for a City team who can essentially take any risk they like knowing they've got Walker to track back and mop up. He remains as dangerous as ever pouring forward too, be it as a traditional overlapping full-back or as an inverted option that provides another body for City to hem in their opponents.
CB: William Saliba
The term 'Rolls Royce defender' has often been associated with Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, given his ability to control the backline with absolute ease.
But that term is also now attributed to Arsenal centre-back William Saliba, who has quickly matured into one of the world's best defenders over the past nine months. Nothing seems to phase the Frenchman, who just waits for opponents to run at him before putting a foot in or runs them down a blind alley until the Gunners can regroup.
If you're looking for the standard-bearer of defending for the next decade, you probably need to look no further than Saliba.
CB: Gabriel Magalhaes
Having one great centre-back is one thing, but having two? Some would say that's greedy.
That's exactly what Mikel Arteta has at Arsenal though, with Saliba's excellence complemented brilliantly by the ever-improving Gabriel. They formed a tremendous partnership in the heart of defence, understanding each other's strengths and, more importantly, each other's few weaknesses.
A bonus for Arsenal during 2023/24 was just how effective they were at set pieces too, with few carrying as big of a threat as Gabriel.
LB: Josko Gvardiol
Manchester City's defence was already ridiculously good before Josko Gvardiol rocked up at the Etihad for a cool £77m, so you can only imagine the level it's at now week in, week out.
It took a little while for the 22-year-old to fully earn Pep Guardiola's trust, sure, but Gvardiol's talent really came to the fore as City looked to put their foot on the Premier League title accelerator. He scored some hugely important goals - four in City's last seven games to be precise - and demonstrated a maturity beyond his tender years.
The frightening thing is that Gvardiol is meant to be a centre-back, yet he's probably the most complete left-back in the Premier League.
CM: Rodri
What is there to say about Rodri that hasn't already been said?
Words don't adequately describe just how important the Spaniard is to Guardiola and Manchester City, so let the fact that Rodri barely affords a rest be the indicator as to how much the champions need him running things at the base of midfield.
Five seasons at City, four Premier League titles, seven other major trophies. He just loves to win.
CM: Declan Rice
Arsenal paying £105m to sign Declan Rice from West Ham United was frowned upon by absolutely everybody who hadn't been watching West Ham United each and every week for the past few years.
Lucikly for the Gunners, their scouting team had clearly recognised just how much Rice would move the needle in Arsenal's midfield. The 25-year-old transitioned from one of the best defensive midfielders in the country - he still is - into one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the country, allowing the likes of Kai Havertz to also flourish.
Were it not for the star power of one of Rice's England teammates, he'd have almost certainly been named Premier League Player of the Season and FWA Footballer of the Year.
AM: Phil Foden
Unfortunately for Rice and for Arsenal, Phil Foden wasn't ready to stop winning the Premier League title just yet - the greedy boy has now done so six times and is only 23 years of age.
Foden's excellence has been known about for years, yet he's always lived a little bit in the shadow of teammate Kevin De Bruyne - the best midfielder in the world over the past few years bar none. 2023/24 was the season that he burst into the sunlight, taking hold of games by the scruff of the neck and elevating City's performance levels to never seen before heights.
19 Premier League goals was a new career-high, but it was Foden's aura, authority and leadership that saw him stand head and shoulders above the rest.
AM: Cole Palmer
Cole Palmer's breakthrough year at Chelsea will be remembered for a long, long time.
The 22-year-old, somehow, scored 22 goals and contributed a further 11 assists in an environment that can only be described as absolute chaos. Mauricio Pochettino clearly believed in Palmer the moment he stepped through the door from Manchester City, but nobody else would have dared imagine the impact he would have in west London.
His brilliance was ultimately rewarded by Chelsea booking a place in Europe next season - next stop for Palmer surely has to be Euro 2024.
ST: Ollie Watkins
Palmer's 33-goal contributions was the most of any player in the Premier League, but for most of the season that accolade belonged to Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins.
The 28-year-old was at the centre of almost all of Villa's early season brilliance, which at one point had Unai Emery's side being discussed as outside title contenders, and without Watkins' 19 goals and 13 assists they would have been nowhere near the top four.
Watkins' displays were all the more impressive as Villa were also competing in the latter stages of the Conference League - the former Brentford goal-getter chalking up 53 appearances in all competitions in the end.
ST: Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland is two years in to his Premier League career and has two titles and two Golden Boot awards to show for his endeavours. Not fair really, is it?
Okay, Haaland struggled a little more this time around, that much is true, but the Norwegian still struck fear into every single defence he came up against. City knew they could count on his goals when the going got tough, regardless of whether Roy Keane thinks he's of League Two standard in other areas of his game.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as 90min's Premier League team of the season - 2023/24.
