The 2025-26 Premier League season was another dramatic campaign for a variety of reasons and the final day tales of survival, horror and farewells rounded off the full story in compelling fashion.
But who did the statistical spotlight shine on at the highest level?
Who delivered when it came to goals, assists, and clean sheets?
In other words, who were the top performers?
Realistically, there is only one place to start and that is Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.
It’s odd to think now that he actually was played out of position by his then boss Ruben Amorim during the first half of the campaign.
However, he still shone and, once the turn of the year led to a change in manager, allowed him to excel even more in his favoured role.
Last week he was named Premier League player of the season to add to his Football Writers Association (FWA) honour and, who knows, perhaps the PFA gong is still to come.
His final day contribution rounded off a fabulous personal campaign.
In a 3-0 win at Brighton, the United skipper became the Premier League record holder for most assists, taking his tally to a record 21 in a single campaign before scoring the final goal of the game.
Captain Magnifico in every sense.
If Fernandes is the outstanding attacking midfielder in world football right now, then a Norwegian striker remains as good a centre forward as any.
We have become so used to Erling Haaland finding the net that it seems that he is perhaps not as widely appreciated as he should be.
I find that staggering as he again was the main man in front of goal as Manchester City claimed a domestic cup double and finished runners-up in the title race.
Incredibly, Haaland still has his detractors who think he has something of an easy ride.
Some believe anyone would score the same amount if they had the creative riches he gets to enjoy. This season he has 27 goals, scoring one every 110 minutes. For context, the Premier League golden boot runner-up, Igor Thiago, needed an extra 39 minutes per goal.
He also has seven assists to his name, fourth highest in the top flight. Quite a way to answer your uninformed critics.
For all the Premier League 2026 highlights that Fernandes, Haaland, Thiago, another footballer of the year contender Antoine Semenyo et al delivered, the Premier League 2026 betting odds don’t focus solely on a team’s attacking talent but their overall foundation.
When it came to foundation, one side was ahead of the rest and that provided them with the platform to be worthy champions.
Goalkeepers don’t always get a mention but David Raya played an integral role in Arsenal finally getting over the line, winning the Premier League’s Golden Glove award for a third year in a row, thanks to 19 clean sheets.
Yes, he was the last line of a defence in which Gabriel and William Saliba were consistently impressive directly in front of him.
But Raya’s own starring role is evidenced by the fact he now has had at least a share of the Golden Glove for the most Premier League clean sheets in all three of his seasons with the Gunners.
As my SBOTOP colleague Stuart so eloquently outlined, the difference between this Arsenal squad and those which ran close in recent years was the strength in depth and the ability to cope with injuries.
Striker Gabriel Jesus, defender Ben White and forward Kai Havertz were sidelined but the biggest losses were the long-term injuries to club captain Martin Odegaard and star winger Bukayo Saka. Both recovered to play their part in the title run-in but Arsenal managed to hold on to top spot throughout these absences. Raya was the final act of defiance in their title victory and so he deserves his place alongside Haaland and Fernandes in my final top three.
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