At the annual Professional Footballer’s Association awards presentation on Tuesday night, four Arsenal players received recognition for being named to the official PFA Premier League Team of the Year. In the wake of Arsenal’s fantastic 2022–23 campaign, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Aaron Ramsdale, and Martin Ødegaard all received well-deserved recognition.
On the morning of August 21, the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) held a grand awards ceremony at the Manchester Opera House. Accordingly, Phil Foden was honored by the PFA as the best player of the year.
However, it is worth noting that Arsenal are the dominant team in the team of the year, with 5 appearances from 5 players, while Man City only have 4 positions.
The most impressive performer of the ‘Arsenal team’ must be Martin Odegaard.
The Norwegian midfielder had a hand in 18 goals for the team last season, including 8 goals and 10 assists.
Meanwhile, £105m new signing Declan Rice explained why Arsenal spent such a huge amount of money with his excellent performance on the pitch.
Arsenal’s defense was also honored by experts.
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are the most compatible duo in the Premier League. They are maturing with each season.
Experts highly appreciate David Raya, who won the Golden Glove award last season.
Clearly, coach Mikel Arteta has a great squad of players and is ready to challenge Man City for the title this season.
Cole Palmer won the PFA Young Player of the Year award but failed to make the Team of the Year.
It should come as no surprise that Manchester City, the victors, had five players included in the squad, while Arsenal had four. Harry Kane of Tottenham and Kieran Trippier of Newcastle completed the team selections.
The fact that four Arsenal players are on the team is a testament to Mikel Arteta’s team’s excellence from the previous campaign. It also marks the end of a protracted drought and the highest number of Arsenal players included since three Gunners were selected for the squad in the 2010–11 campaign.
The last time an Arsenal player was named to the esteemed end-of-year squad was Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who was the only Gunner on the 2019–20 Team of the Year. This serves as a depressing reminder of the situation of Arsenal prior to Mikel Arteta’s leadership. Hector Bellerín was named to the 2015–16 squad before him.
In addition to being selected for the Team of the Season, Bukayo Saka received the PFA Young Player of the Year award, which is yet another honour for the highly renowned English player. He has already won the Arsenal Player of the Season twice and the England Men’s Player of the Year for 2021–2022.
With this honour, Saka joins Tony Adams, Paul Merson, Nicolas Anelka, Cesc Fàbregas, and Jack Wilshere as the sixth Arsenal player to have received it. It’s not awful to maintain company.
The four Arsenal award winners will now focus on Sunday’s crucial game against Manchester United at the Emirates. I have faith that they will do well enough to win them awards.