With the curtain now down on the 2025-26 English Football season, it’s time to reflect on the stand-out stars of a memorable campaign.
From Arsenal’s 22–year wait for a fourth Premier League title concluding to Manchester City’s FA Cup double across both genders and a surprise League Two champion in Bromley, there is plenty of thrills to look back upon across the season.
It’s therefore is time to reflect on the stand-out stars of the season, so here is my 2025-26 English Football XI.
Goalkeeper
Whilst Carl Rushworth and Grant Smith thrilled for Coventry and Bromley respectively this season and Jordan Pickford proved key to Everton’s tight defence, Arsenal’s David Raya undoubtedly was a class above everyone else once more.
With 28 clean sheets and only 31 goals conceded in 51 appearances across all competitions, Raya has enjoyed another truly exceptional campaign in which he proved difficult for oppositional defences to beat, and earned another Premier League Golden Glove with 19 clean sheets.
His saves also has again been a stand-out aspect of his play especially to keep PSG out in terms of open play in the Gunners’ Champions League Final heartbreak, which saw them fall on penalties to the title holders.
Defence
Sticking with Arsenal at right-back, Jurrien Timber has been a defensive rock when not injured with three goals and five assists in 30 appearances, whilst his dribbling and duel stats at times have been unbeatable and it’s hard to think of a stronger right-back this season.
Nico O’Reilly meanwhile has stood out at left-back in terms of his impact for Man City this season because he has been consistently progressive as evidenced by eight goals and six assists, whilst he has still done the defensive work brilliantly and especially in the passes which have often been accurate.
O’Reilly also scored both of City’s goals in their Carabao Cup Final victory over Arsenal which demonstrated his importance on the big occasions, in a campaign which has seen him go from strength to strength and still versatile enough to fill in as a defensive midfielder when needed.
Across in central defence, Bromley’s Omar Sowunmi absolutely deserves to be in the XI because he like O’Reilly has been defensively robust, yet he too has been impactful with seven goals and one assist underlining his ability to push forward and contribute to attack whereas possible.
Arsenal’s Gabriel like Sowunmi has demonstrated defensive resilience this season as the bedrock of his team’s defence in terms of defensive work like blocks with strong leadership, whilst he contributed three goals and four assists in an impressive title-winning campaign.
The Brazilian also deserves credit for stepping up to take Arsenal’s final penalty against PSG because it takes a lot of courage for a defender to do that.
Midfield
Headlining the central midfield has to be Arsenal’s Declan Rice because despite his five goals and nine assists in 55 total appearances, he has been an incredible bedrock in his defensive midfield position for Arsenal because he has robustly contributed to defence and attack on a consistent basis.
Rice also displayed incredible composure in his midfield anchor role with not a single red card all season, which underlines how resiliently impactful his role has been in the Gunners’ successful season, and Arsenal’s sloppy FA Cup Quarter-Final exit at Southampton exposed an vulnerability without his presence.
Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson deserves praise for his breakthrough consistency this season but I have gone for Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney in the second defensive midfield spot, purely because he is the more attack minded with five goals and six assists.
One of the main reasons that Hackney won out is purely if thinking about this XI from a managerial sense, Rice fills the defensive midfield anchor role so Hackney offers more attacking edge in that position with his high-press and forward driving movement.
Within the attacking midfield, Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes instantly sprung to mind in the central position because despite Utd’s first-half of the season struggles, he has been a consistent shining light with nine goals and 21 assists and composed leadership quality to turn their campaign around.
The right winger role was a tight call between Morgan Gibbs-White and Antoine Semenyo who both scored 18 goals, but Gibbs-White won out with seven assists to Semenyo’s four and more accurate conversion of shots onto target in what has been an excellent season for the Forest star.
Semenyo though deserves major credit because he was superb for Bournemouth in the first half of the season, yet managed to continue that form following his move to Man City and deservedly netted their FA Cup title-clinching winner in the final against Chelsea.
Across on the left flank, I can’t think of a better winger in that position this season than Bromley’s Mitch Pinnock because despite scoring just twice, he has been very impactful in terms of his key passes, chance creations and crosses compared to other left wingers this season.
We also shouldn’t forget that this was Pinnock’s first season back at Bromley after a decade away so for him to be as impactful as he had been is a huge achievement, especially when compared to fellow left wingers at higher-level clubs in a campaign which saw the Ravens achieve a surprise promotion.
Forward
This season has seen plenty of stand-out forward performances from players like Arsenal’s Alessia Russo and Man City’s Khadija Shaw, whilst Brentford’s Igor Thiago and Bournemouth’s Rayan enjoyed impressive debut seasons in English Football
There were surprise stars within the EFL in Swansea’s Zan Vipotnik and Leyton Orient’s Dom Ballard, of which the former seems to be quietly underrated within the wider footballing media because he has been a stand-out performer despite the Swans’ initially lacklustre first half of the season.
Man City’s Erling Haaland though seemed back to his absolute best after a dip last season with 38 goals and nine assists across the whole campaign, whilst his overall play has also been strong which makes it hard to ignore him because he absolutely deserves the nod on consistency and form this season.
Manager
Whilst Mikel Arteta deserves praise for delivering Arsenal the league title, several other managers deserve a shout-out for varying degrees of achievements because there has been a number of impressive managerial successes;
- Regis Le Bris – led newly-promoted Sunderland to a seventh-placed finish and Europa League qualification after heavy pre-season spending.
- Andoni Iraola – oversaw Bournemouth’s impressive sixth-placed top-flight finish which included European qualification for the first time and an 18-match unbeaten run.
- Keith Andrews – managed to turn around Brentford’s tricky start to defy relegation expectations to finish as the top West London side in Premier League.
- Pep Guardiola – oversaw Man City’s cup double in his final season and managed to take the Premier League final fight to the penultimate matchweek.
- Daniel Farke – ended his habit of instant relegations with teams he guided up into Premier League as he led Leeds to safety and FA Cup semi-finals.
- Frank Lampard – guided Coventry to promotion back to the Premier League after a 25-year absence.
- Sergej Jakirovic – incredibly turned Hull from final-day escapees of last season into a promotion-winning side via play-offs after they only qualified for the play-offs on the final day of the season.
- Michael Skubala – led Lincoln City to promotion to Championship with a 29-match unbeaten run.
- Andree Jeglertz – oversaw Man City Women’s WSL and Women’s FA Cup double in his first season in charge.
Bromley’s Andy Woodman however stands out as the clear manager of the season because they had a small budget yet he found a way to execute an old-fashioned ‘hoof-ball’ style successfully enough to defy their play-off target and achieve the Ravens’ first promotion to League One.
Woodman also has a great likeability for a manager who wears his heart on his sleeve and isn’t afraid to be straight forward in many of his pre-match interviews, whilst maintaining a strong winning mentality across the whole season which the players responded to even if had to grind results out at times.
It was therefore satisfying to see Bromley claim the League Two title on the final day because they began that match with the title out of their own hands, yet he managed to keep them motivated and focused to beat Walsall whilst Fleetwood did them a favour against MK Dons.
Honesty was another part of Woodman’s personality which endeared me to his way of guiding Bromley this season because he had a way of managing expectations beyond just the staff and players but fans too through quotes like “no nerves or no pressure” and “no small games” to name a few.
I therefore was impressed at how fans responded positively with composure as not many on social media seemed to get carried away, which was deservedly matched with the correct attitude when he called for “a real carnival atmosphere” in their final match of the season.
It is therefore significant credit to Woodman in how he was able to manage on a level beyond just the squad but also fans too in terms of expectations unlike many managers, so everything altogether made it difficult to not consider him as the clear manager of the season.