The best XI of all time in the Premier League

There is a lot of debate about the greatest player in Premier League history, it’s a fun topic to discuss. So, rather than just name one player, we’re going for a full starting XI. We’re going to use a classically English 4-4-2 formation to try and fit the correct players in where we can. Remember, if we didn’t choose a player you like, it’s not a personal attack, just a bit of fun!

Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar were both in the conversation, but Cech just edges it for us. He was the model of consistency for Chelsea during their dominant era, as shown by his record of 202 clean sheets, per Statmuse.

It’s unfortunate for all of us Premier League fans that we have to listen to Neville in the commentary box these days, but during his career, he was one hell of a player. He won eight Premier League titles and a couple of Champions Leagues during his time as a Red Devil, turning out 598 times for the club. He was a true warrior who had the full trust of Fergie.

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One of the arguments against Petr Cech as the keeper in our dream team was the defense in front of him. At the centre of that was John Terry, whose physicality, leadership, and reading of the game were key to the Blues success.

Like Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand’s slightly grating commentary and punditry may cloud some younger football fans into not understanding just how good he was. He’s the prototype modern full back who made the game look easy at times. This was one of the hardest positions to choose, as we’ve left out legends like Virgil van Dijk, Sol Campbell, Tony Adams, and Vincent Kompany, who all deserve a mention.

Look away, Arsenal fans, but Ashley Cole was the best left back in the world for a large part of his career, let alone the Premier League. Cristiano Ronaldo named him his hardest opponent, per Sky Sports, which probably tells you all you need to know.

Look, we know this isn’t where he plays, but he deserves recognition for his incredible consistency as a player. With the quality of this defence, he can slide in as an auxiliary right-winger anyway, so it’s fine (we think). Salah has 170 goals and 77 assists in 277 Premier League games (the vast majority with Liverpool), that record is too good to ignore.

If we thought the centre of defence was hard to pick from, choosing the midfield is almost impossible. Whoever we picked, there is going to be an argument, so we’re sticking to our guns (no pun intended) and picking the emotional leader of one of the greatest club teams of all time in Patrick Vieira. No other team has gone undefeated in the Premier League, but none had prime Vieira, either.

Sorry, Kevin De Bruyne, sorry Frank Lampard, and sorry Paul Scholes, you are all worthy of this spot, but we don’t think any of you are more worthy than Stevie G. Gerrard was a monster of a player who defined the ‘box-to-box’ role in a Liverpool side that wasn’t always among the elite teams. Let’s just not talk about ‘that’ moment against Chelsea…

It does unfortunately seem like Giggs is quite a bad person after a prolonged affair with his brother’s wife and other legal issues. Still, this list is about their impact as Premier League players, and few had bigger than Giggs - he won 13 Premier League titles as a player, which is just ridiculous.

We had to include Alan Shearer in this list somewhere, he is, after all, the Premier League record goalscorer. If he had chosen to move to Manchester United rather than Newcastle after his Blackburn stint, his legacy would be inarguable, instead his one Premier League title has some people confused about his greatness. He was a physical monster whose 260 PL goals may never be beaten.

We know this means there’s no space for Wayne Rooney or Sergio Agüero, but neither deserve to be in this team over Henry. John Terry once said, “Thierry Henry was the best I came up against, the one I feared the most,” on Sky Sports. When an opponent has John Terry shaking in his boots, you know they’re a special player.

The Premier League has been blessed with some of the greatest managers of all time in Arsène Wenger, Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp and José Mourinho, but one man stood about the rest - Sir Alex Ferguson. Fergie won 13 Premier League titles during his time at United with constant player turnover. It didn’t matter who was on the park at times, he would work out a way to win.

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