A lot happened in the Premier League throughout 2022.

Manchester City pipped Liverpool in a historic title race, Arsenal became really good again, and Nottingham Forest bought literally every average footballer you can think of.

There were plenty of above average footballers who did their thing in 2022 too.

And here’s an XI of the best of them:

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GK – Alisson Becker – The best goalkeeper in the Premier League and probably the whole world too. The Liverpool number one has been fantastic for his side throughout the calendar year.

RB – Kieran Trippier – Hands up if you thought Kieran Trippier was going to be this good at Newcastle? If you have your hand up you’re lying, so put it back down. Since signing Trippier from Atletico Madrid last January the Magpies have literally gone from one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best seemingly overnight. He’s the leader of Eddie Howe’s new look Newcastle.

CB – William Saliba – He’s only played half of one season, yet Saliba has been so good that he makes it into the 2022 TOTY. The centre-back has helped Arsenal become genuine title contenders heading into 2023 with his impeccable performances at the heart of their defence.

CB – Cristian Romero – In the second half of the 2021/22 campaign there probably wasn’t a better centre-back in the league. At the start of the 2022/23 campaign he’s won the World Cup. It’s been a good year for Romero.

LB – Joao Cancelo – The ‚inverted full-back‘ has been one of the only players Pep Guardiola hasn’t consistently rotated in and out of his lineup in 2022, which says a lot about just how good he is.

RM – Bukayo Saka – Is it scary that Saka is still only 21 years old? Yes, yes it is. The England star has been outstanding for Arsenal over the last 12 months – particularly at the start of the current season when he’s bagged himself a nice haul of 11 goal contributions in the Premier League.

CM – Kevin De Bruyne – Of course KDB is in this team. He’s a ridiculous footballer. Ridiculous. He finished last season with 15 goals and eight assists, and he has bagged himself another three goals and ten assists at the start of the 2022/23 campaign. He’s ridiculous.

CM – Bruno Guimaraes – It’s been a very, very long time since Newcastle had two players in a team of the year, but that’s just what they have now in this new Saudi-money era at the club. Guimaraes has been outstanding since joining the club last January, being as effective on the ball as he is off of it.

LM – Leandro Trossard – To say the least, Trossard has enjoyed quite the glow up in 2022. The Belgian is now one of the better players in the division, as he proved with his fantastic hat trick at Anfield in October.

ST – Erling Haaland – 14 Premier League appearances, 20 goals. We don’t need to say much more than that.

ST – Harry Kane – The abiding memory of Kane’s 2022 will be that penalty miss against France, but at club level no one can deny how good he’s been. The England captain led Tottenham back into the Champions League at the end of last season and has been every bit as clinical this term too, scoring 13 goals thus far.

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