JUST three fixtures remain before the 2022/23 Dream Team season is condemned to the history books.
This Saturday, Wembley plays host to a special Manchester derby edition of the FA Cup final while West Ham face Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final next Wednesday.
Then on June 10th, the curtain closes with the Champions League final as Pep Guardiola’s side take on Inter in Istanbul.
Those games promise to be engrossing affairs but for the vast majority of Premier League clubs, school’s out for summer.
In the spirit of wrapping up, we’ve ranked all 20 teams on their best Dream Team player’s points tally, with some added stats and facts along the way.
20th Bournemouth – Philip Billing
- 94 points
- Position rank: 34th
- Overall rank: joint-81st
Bournemouth are the only club without a single member in the 100 Club™ and a general look at the Dream Team stats makes one realise what a great job Gary O’Neil did to ensure the club’s top-flight status.
The Cherries’ Norwegian midfielder racked up 44 points in the space of five games early on in the campaign and was a genuinely viable bargain option but he regressed to the mean as the season progressed.
19th Chelsea – Thiago Silva
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- 101 points
- Position rank: 21st
- Overall rank: joint-75th
A truly damning reflection of the Blues’ dismal season.
The veteran Brazilian centre-back was named as Chelsea’s Player of the Year and rightfully so as he is one of very few Stamford Bridge residents who can hold his head high.
Silva actually ended on the same total of points as Kai Havertz but he averaged more points-per-game than the Germany international so he gets the nod from us – plus, he was consistently among the top ten defenders prior to his injury.
18th Wolves – Ruben Neves
- 102 points
- Position rank: 32nd
- Overall rank: joint-73rd
The Portuguese midfielder earned six Star Man awards in what was an unremarkable term for Wolves.
Julen Lopetegui’s appointment propelled the club out of the relegation scrap but there wasn’t much for the Molineux faithful to write home about if truth be told.
17th Leeds – Rodrigo
- 106 points
- Position rank: 17th
- Overall rank: joint-69th
The Whites cycled through Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce but they couldn’t swerve the drop because of their disastrous defence.
However, they packed a decent punch up top thanks mostly to Rodrigo’s finishing – the Spaniard bagged 15 goals in all competitions despite being restricted to 23 league starts because of injury setbacks.
=15th Nottingham Forest – Morgan Gibbs-White
- 108 points
- Position rank: joint-27th
- Overall rank: joint-67th
Forest’s No10 pulled three times his weight to preserve his side’s Premier League status.
Gibbs-White registered five goals, nine goals and seven Star Man awards through some genuinely talismanic performances.
Gareth Southgate could have done a lot worse than calling the 23-year-old up for England’s games against Malta and North Macedonia in June.
=15th Everton – Dwight McNeil
- 108 points
- Position rank: joint-27th
- Overall rank: joint-67th
Similarly, McNeil saved his best form for the final third of the campaign to help the Toffees edge out Leeds and Leicester to stay afloat.
Just 0.1% of Dream Team managers took a punt on the ex-Burnley midfielder but that slim minority were rewarded with 62 points across the last eleven Game Weeks.
14th Fulham – Aleksandar Mitrovic
- 113 points
- Position rank: 15th
- Overall rank: joint-59th
The Serbian target man averaged more points-per-game than Gabriel Martinelli, Alexander Isak and Julian Alvarez but his efforts were undermined by occasional penalty misses, injury niggles, and disciplinary issues.
Mitrovic burst out of the traps with 76 points in his first eleven outings and was a Golden Boot contender before Erling Haaland made it a one-horse race.
It will be interesting to see what Fulham’s No9 can do next season if he’s more available as he averaged a goal every 143.9 minutes this season when on the pitch.
13th Leicester – James Maddison
- 118 points
- Position rank: 20th
- Overall rank: joint-53rd
Not even 19 goal involvements from their playmaker-in-chief could save the Foxes from a bitterly relegation.
Dream Team gaffers should feel confident that they’ll be able to select Maddison again in 2023/24 as several Premier League clubs will be desperate to sign him this summer.
12th Southampton – James Ward-Prowse
- 121 points
- Position rank: 19th
- Overall rank: 51st
Much of what applies to Maddison is also relevant to Southampton’s captain.
Ward-Prowse is a one-club man at 28 years old but he’s simply too good for the Championship and he’s proven in recent years that he’s more than a one-trick pony – although his set-pieces are truly remarkable.
11th Crystal Palace – Eberechi Eze
- 129 points
- Position rank: 17th
- Overall rank: 45th
The Eagles’ No10 benefited massively from Roy Hodgson’s return to Selhurst Park and was among the most in-form assets in Dream Team during the run-in.
Eze plundered 70 points across the last nine Game Weeks of the season, forming a fruitful partnership with Michael Olise, Palace’s only other centurion.
10th West Ham – Jarrod Bowen
- 149 points
- Position rank: 10th
- Overall rank: 25th
Said Benrahma could edge out his team-mate with some Europa Conference League final heroics but as it stands, Bowen will finish top of the Hammers’ rankings for the second consecutive season.
The wholehearted winger has thoroughly enjoyed himself on Thursday nights, banking 48 points in the continental arena.
West Ham will have to beat Fiorentina next week if they are to qualify for Europe again next season, which will massively impact their assets’ viability one way or the other.
9th Brighton – Solly March
- 153 points
- Position rank: joint-7th
- Overall rank: joint-21st
Kaoru Mitoma also produced 153 points but we’ve given March the honours because of his superior points-per-game average.
No fewer than four Brighton midfielders achieved 100+ points and the worst of the quartet, Alexis Mac Allister, was the 15th best asset in his position overall!
With the Seagulls having qualified for the Europa League, March and company should be popular selections next season.
8th Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins
- 162 points
- Position rank: 7th
- Overall rank: 16th
A fruitful spell of 95 points in the space of eleven games made Aston Villa’s top scorer a big player in the realm of Dream Team between Game Weeks 21 and 30.
The England international regained his best form as Unai Emery moulded the Villains into one of the league’ s most in-form teams after the World Cup and Watkins’ lofty ranking among forwards is extra impressive given he didn’t have European fixtures to bolster his schedule.
7th Brentford – Ivan Toney
- 184 points
- Position rank: 5th
- Overall rank: 12th
Dream Team managers will miss Brentford’s target man while he serves his suspension for gambling breaches.
Toney bagged 20 league goals this season and cemented his status as an ultra reliable mid-range striker.
6th Arsenal – Bukayo Saka
- 195 points
- Position rank: 4th
- Overall rank: 9th
Eight Arsenal players made it to three figures in terms of Dream Team points but none of them made into the exclusive 200 Club™.
The Emirates’ resident star boy came closest via 15 goals, 12 assists and five Star Man awards.
Saka’s returns may have fallen away at the very back end of the campaign but there’s no denying he enjoyed an outstanding season – he edged out the equally brilliant Martin Odegaard on the final day.
5th Newcastle – Kieran Trippier
- 230 points
- Position rank: 1st
- Overall rank: 7th
No other defender achieved more than 167 points and that stat alone justifies Trippier’s status as one of Dream Team’s most elite assets of 2022/23.
The Magpies’ vice-captain hoarded clean sheets, 7+ ratings and Star Man awards for fun during the first two thirds of the season and the fact none of his rivals got anywhere near him at the death despite a dip in returns speaks volumes of his supremacy.
4th Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
- 275 points
- Position rank: 4th
- Overall rank: 4th
A disappointing season for the Reds all things considered but that didn’t hinder everyone’s favourite prolific Egyptian, who posted 29 goals and 15 assists in all competitions.
It’s remarkable to think that more than a few critics deemed Salah to be well under par for long spells.
A undisputed Dream Team legend.
3rd Tottenham – Harry Kane
- 289 points
- Position rank: 3rd
- Overall rank: 3rd
Like Salah, Spurs’ leading light broke away from his side’s mediocrity to produce yet another spectacular individual campaign.
The England skipper notched 30 league goals for the second time in his career, becoming the Premier League’s second-top goalscorer and Spurs’ outright top scorer in the process.
2nd Manchester United – Marcus Rashford
- 301 points
- Position rank: 2nd
- Overall rank: 2nd
The Red Devils’ No10 was one of the world’s most in-form players for a couple of months following the World Cup.
A rampage of 158 points in ten Game Weeks put pressure on Rashford’s bionic cross-town rival for a while and even though he couldn’t sustain his challenge to the ultimate throne, a triple century of points is a serious achievement.
Bruno Fernandes needs to make a 26-point difference in the FA Cup final if he’s to usurp his team-mate – an unlikely outcome.
1st Manchester City – Erling Haaland
- 432 points
- Position rank: 1st
- Overall rank: 1st
What is there left to say about the Norwegian predator?
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Most goals in a Premier League season, six hat-tricks in all competitions, just the second man in history to reach 400 Dream Team points in a single campaign, and many more utter obscene milestones.
The scary thing is it wouldn’t be a surprise if he got even better in 2023/24…
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
