With matchweek 38 done and dusted, the 2018/19 Premier League season has come to a close. It was an enthralling ride from start to finish and Manchester City ended up winning their second consecutive league title.
Finishing just an agonising one point behind the Citizens were Liverpool who, while surely devastated to have fallen just short, should take pride in a remarkable 97-point season, and their success in reaching the Champions League final.
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Unsurprisingly, these two heavyweights dominance on the pitch translated directly to Fantasy where City and Liverpool accounted for eight of the 11 slots in our Goal Fantasy Team of the Season. Below you can find which players from these clubs made the grade, and the ones that crept in from other clubs.
GK: Alisson - Liverpool - 38 Games, 77 Saves, 21 Clean Sheets, 22 Goals Conceded = 188 Points
DEF: Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool - 38 Games, 4 Goals, 4 Assists, 21 Clean Sheets, 22 Goals Conceded = 193 Points
The Dutchman helped his club both concede the fewest goals and earn the most clean sheets this season, making the day’s of Liverpool’s shaky defence before him a distant memory. Not only was van Dijk a rock and leader at the back though, but he also contributed at the other pitch as well in 2018/19, posting career highs in both goals (four) and assists (four).
All of that combined to help earn van Dijk earn both the PFA and Premier League Player of the Year awards in real life, while also finishing with an impressive 193 points in Fantasy, making him the best defender in the Goal game this season.
DEF: Andrew Robertson - Liverpool - 36 Games, 12 Assists, 21 Clean Sheets, 22 Goals Conceded = 193 Points
DEF: Aymeric Laporte - Manchester City - 34 Games, 3 Goals, 3 Assists, 18 Clean Sheets, 21 Goals conceded = 168 points
MID: Mohamed Salah - Liverpool - 37 Games, 22 Goals, 12 Assists = 243 Points
Salah was always bound to regress after his remarkable 32 goal, 12 assist debut campaign for Liverpool. That did indeed happen, with the Egyptian scoring 10 fewer times this season, yet the cushion between he and the rest of the field was so great that Salah still easily ended 2018/19 as our Goal Fantasy Player of the Season.
Having led the league in shots on target two seasons in a row, and now with two consecutive Golden Boots in tow, there’s no arguing that Salah is one of the best scorers of goals in the Premier League, and the best scorer of points in the Goal game. As such, his price will likely be very high heading into 2019/20, but it could end up being far more costly to not own him.
MID: Sadio Mane - Liverpool - 35 Games, 22 Goals, 3 Assists = 212 points
MID: Raheem Sterling - Manchester City - 31 Games, 17 Goals, 15 Assists = 212 Points
Like Salah, Sterling took a bit of a step back in terms of goals and assists this year, but if he continues to post 15+ of each this season he’ll continue to be a Fantasy star. The biggest question surrounding Sterling has always been minutes more than ability and, while his 31 starts in 2018/19 were his fewest since joining Manchester City, it’s promising that the Englishman started nine of their last 10 league matches.
Assuming that continues, and that he keeps getting an outrageous amount of touches in the opposing penalty area, Sterling will likely end up on this list again at the end of next year’s Premier League campaign.
MID: Eden Hazard - Chelsea - 32 Games, 16 Goals, 15 Assists = 210 points
FOR: Sergio Aguero - Manchester City - 31 Games, 21 Goals, 11 Assists = 202 Points
Up front for our Fantasy Team of the Season is Mr. Reliable - Sergio Aguero. The Manchester City striker has now scored 20+ goals four seasons in a row, and in five of his seven years in the Premier League. Somehow, despite that fact, the Argentine forward has won just one golden boot in his time in England (2014/15) but it was his career-high 11 assists this season that ensured he’d finish at the top of the striker heap.
Aguero will be 31 by matchweek one next season, and there may be some age regression coming his way soon but, for now at least, there’s not a more consistent striker in the Premier League or the Goal game.
FOR: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - Arsenal - 30 Games, 22 Goals, 7 Assists = 194 Points
FOR: Raul Jimenez - Wolves - 36 Games, 13 Goals, 10 Assists = 169 Points
