This season’s best Dream Team XI not including players from the ‘big six’
EVERYONE knows the Premier League’s so-called ‘big six’ receive a disproportionate amount of attention from the media.
And to be honest, plenty of Dream Team gaffers are guilty of overlooking assets from the other 14 teams too.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at this season’s best XI not including players from Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham or Manchester United.
GOALKEEPER: Nick Pope (£3.5m)
Newcastle’s first-choice custodian is currently the joint-third best asset in his position but he’s just one point off leaders Alisson (£4m) and Ederson (£5m).
Pope has 48 points to his name and is the last line of defence for the most frugal back line in the top flight – Eddie Howe’s side have conceded just ten goals in 12 games.
The England international’s tally is also helped massively by three Star Man awards, achieved through some impressive displays of shot stopping.
With an ownership of 16.1%, Pope is the second-most popular keeper in the game – Aaron Ramsdale (£3.1m) leads the way in that regard with an ownership of 20.3%.
DEFENDERS: Kieran Trippier (£4.3m), Fabian Schar (£3m), James Tarkowski (£3.1m)
Yet more evidence of Newcastle’s tight defence here.
Schar’s total of 53 points is only bettered by four defenders, one of which is Trippier who has amassed 79 thanks to four Star Man awards – no player has more this season.
The right-back is pushing for a place in England’s starting line-up for the World Cup and while Dream Team points will be the last thing on Gareth Southgate’s mind, the form of Newcastle’s fan favourite can’t be denied.
Tarkowski is the 12th-best asset in his position having put in a serious effort to iron out the creases in Everton’s defence.
Only four teams have conceded fewer league goals than the Toffees at this stage and the ex-Burnley centre-back, who has 41 points, has been the leader in steadying what was previously a wobbling ship.
MIDFIELDERS: Miguel Almiron (£2.4m), James Maddison (£5m), Philip Billing (£2.9m), Jarrod Bowen (£4.4m)
Our fourth and final Newcastle representative comes in the form of the man who has gone from a Jack Grealish (£4m) punchline to one of the league’s most in-form players.
Almiron has scored five goals in his last five games, exhibiting a range of finishes to propel the Magpies into the top four.
The Paraguay international is averaging a goal every 167.8 minutes in the Premier League this season and 2022/23 is already his best-ever league campaign in terms of goals for the Toon.
Incredibly, Bukayo Saka (£4.5m), Phil Foden (£5.8m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£7.2m) are the only midfielders with more points than Almiron’s 50 at the time of writing.
Leicester have clawed their way up to 17th after a truly disastrous start and Maddison’s six goals and two assists form the basis of everything the Foxes have done well going forward.
The 25-year-old has been one of the league’s best attacking midfielders for a year now and so his tally of 49 Dream Team points, at an average of 4.5 per fixture, should come as no surprise to gaffers.
Billing has been a huge surprise package this term.
The Danish midfielder fulfils a more advanced role than he did during his Huddersfield days and a spell of three goals and an assist in five games led to an influx of 44 points (he has 46 overall).
After a breakout season in 2021/22, Bowen’s average of 2.6 points-per-game may seem slightly underwhelming but it’s worth noting he’s averaged 7.8 points-per-Game-Week in October.
West Ham’s No20 has 44 points overall, a total that owes plenty to the Hammers’ Europa Conference League exploits.
FORWARDS: Aleksandar Mitrovic (£4.8m), Ivan Toney (£4.6m), Leandro Trossard (£4.2m)
No prizes for predicting our front three – this trio have earned plenty of plaudits this season.
Toney (67 points) has eight goals from 12 league outings while his west London rival Mitrovic boasts an even more prolific record of nine in eleven.
Established world-class strikers Harry Kane (£7.2m) and Erling Haaland (£9.4m) are the only players with more Premier League goals in 2022/223 than Fulham’s No9 – they’re also the only forwards with more than his 76 Dream Team points.
Brighton have slipped to ninth since Graham Potter’s departure but, if anything, Trossard’s form has improved.
The Belgium international plundered 28 of his 55 points with a hat-trick at Anfield and he scored his sixth goal of the season this past weekend as the Seagulls succumbed to Man City at the Etihad.
Trossard’s ability to provide returns in massively unfavourable fixtures has made him something of a cult hero among Dream Team bosses – he’s the tenth-best forward at this point.