The Athletic’s 2024-25 Alternative Premier League Awards

Sports

add

It’s that time of year again.

Liverpool have finally lifted the Premier League trophy after securing the title last month, but the main prize is not the only thing being handed out.

Mohamed Salah hoovered up the individual awards, with 29 goals securing the Golden Boot and 18 assists grabbing the Playmaker award for the second time in a Liverpool shirt. Golden glove? That goalkeeping accolade was shared between Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels and David Raya of Arsenal, with 13 clean sheets apiece.

Sure, such honours are great, but it is more fun to sharpen the lens and hand out gongs in categories that are a little more… niche. We’re talking ‘the player with the highest share of first passes forward when transitioning into attack’ levels of niche — it was Trent Alexander-Arnold, for those wondering.

Welcome to The Athletic’s 2024-25 alternative Premier League awards.

Most improved team: Nottingham Forest

True to the spirit of a football award ceremony, we have to include one for the most improved team.

Unsurprisingly, this goes to Nottingham Forest — and it is not even close.

Many predicted that Forest would continue to struggle at the bottom end of the table this season, but their clearly defined counter-attacking style has been the revelation of the year as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side qualified for Europe against all odds. They will compete in the UEFA Conference League next term.

If you factor in their four-point deduction last season, their 2024-25 tally means that Forest have become the first team in Premier League history to double their points haul from one campaign to the next.

At the other end, not many would have predicted that Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur would all be at least 10 points worse off than where they finished last season — but Spurs’ league decline really steals the show.

Ange Postecoglou’s side accrued 28 fewer points than a year ago, which is comfortably more than any other side in the Premier League. Still, Spurs fans would do it all again to relive the euphoria of their Europa League final win earlier this week.

Given their dramatic drop-off in the top flight, expect to see Tottenham pick up next year’s most improved award — building on a 38-point tally should not be difficult.

First-half champions: Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has engaged in some mental gymnastics in recent weeks.

The Arsenal manager’s claim they were the Champions League’s best team came shortly after a light-hearted assertion that his side should have lifted more silverware in recent years.

“Liverpool have won the title with fewer points than we have (finished with) in the last two seasons,” Arteta jovially told reporters. “With the points of the past two seasons, we have two Premier League (titles).”

If we’re playing that game, Mikel, you can happily accept the award as the Premier League’s first-half champions this season.

While injuries and discipline issues might have plagued their campaign at times, Arsenal only trailed on five occasions going into the half-time break across their 38 matches — fewer than any other side.

For those interested, Manchester United would have been in the relegation zone by this measure — going into half-time with a lead on just five occasions, the same number as Leicester City and fewer than Southampton (six) and Ipswich (eight).

United coach Ruben Amorim has plenty to address, but stronger starts to each game would be a good place to begin.

(Benjamin Cremel/AFP via Getty Images)

Biggest xG over-performer: Bryan Mbeumo

A staple of our annual awards, it is always fun to see which players have done better than expected in front of goal.

A slice of luck, some excellent finishing, and some poor goalkeeping can all add up to a healthy selection of over-performance — and it is Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo who claims this award for 2024-25.

Mbeumo has been in top goalscoring form this season, with his total of 20 in the league being more than in his previous two seasons combined. With 15 non-penalty goals scored from an xG of 7.6, the Cameroon international has almost perfectly doubled his tally compared with the quality of chances he has had. Beautiful curled efforts, poacher finishes and incredible volleys on the turn have all been on show in Mbeumo’s repertoire, spearheading Brentford’s attack alongside Yoane Wissa.

Mbeumo just edges out Wolves’ Matheus Cunha, whose 15 non-penalty goals from an xG value of 8.7 show the Brazil international has also scored at nearly double the rate he was expected to.

No player scored more than Cunha’s five goals outside of the box, with a stunning ‘Olimpico’ goal against Manchester United being the pick of the bunch. Don’t expect to see this every season, but Cunha should pray to the xG gods for his goal return in this campaign.

(Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

Biggest xG underperformer: Savinho

While we are here, it is only fair to hand out the award for the player with the biggest underperformance in front of goal.

In truth, there has not been a notably poor output from any player this season, with Manchester City’s Savinho likely to feel hard done by as the one with the biggest discrepancy of four goals.

Savinho has been a mixed bag since arriving from French side Troyes last summer. A return of eight assists is impressive considering he has only played 53 per cent of City’s available league minutes, but just one Premier League goal all season is representative of the wider profligacy across Pep Guardiola’s deposed champions this year.

For some quick trivia, Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin finishes the season having scored fewer goals than his xG for the sixth campaign running. Since 2018-19, no Premier League player has underperformed by more than his 17.2 goals below expectation. Ouch.

Set-piece kings: Everton

No, it’s not Arsenal.

Despite the mystical narrative surrounding their set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, Arsenal’s attacking output from set pieces has been undone by some weak defending at them this season. When adjusting for opportunity — looking at goals scored and conceded per 100 set pieces — the team strongest in both boxes were Everton.

Both Sean Dyche and January replacement David Moyes are staunch advocates of building a team with strong defensive foundation and a potent set-piece threat, so it is little wonder that Everton have come out so well in both penalty areas.

With 2.7 goals conceded per 100 set pieces against, Everton’s defensive output was actually second to that of Brentford (one goal conceded per 100 set pieces against), but their 5.9 goals scored per 100 set pieces was bettered by no one, making their set-piece goal difference top of the pile.

Everton just edge out Nottingham Forest, who have improved dramatically in this area of their game under Nuno, with 17 set-piece goals scored being as many as their two previous seasons combined.

The same is true defensively. Forest’s 23 set-piece goals conceded was the worst figure in the Premier League by far last season, with just nine concessions this time being among the division’s best. It is a shame that their final-day goal conceded to Chelsea’s Levi Colwill was from the second phase of a set piece, because Forest deserve credit for how much they have improved in this facet of their game across the whole campaign.

The sweepiest of goalkeepers: Nick Pope

We typically reserve the goalkeeper award for a season’s best shot-stopper — outlining the player who has prevented the most goals relative to the quality of shots they faced. By that measure, the winner here would be Everton’s Jordan Pickford, whose six goals prevented edged out his rivals as the strongest shot-stopping performance between the sticks this season.

But for a change, this year’s goalkeeping award goes to the player who has dared to venture outside their box most often.

The sweepiest goalkeeper of the year is… Newcastle’s Nick Pope, with an average of 2.4 such actions per game.

This may be a surprise to some, considering Newcastle do not play with the highest back line in the Premier League, but the intense out-of-possession approach that Eddie Howe’s men often deploy means that the opposition are forced to play long balls in behind their defence.

With an aggressive starting position so he can charge forward and whack the ball into touch, Pope is often poised to step out from his box.

Congratulations, Nick — please run up (slowly) and accept your award.

A ball’s traditional view of Nick Pope’s feet (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The ultimate line-breaker: Jan Paul van Hecke

Carefully constructed build-up play is great, but who doesn’t love an intricate pass that pierces the opposition’s structure?

Using data from SkillCorner, we can identify which players look to move the ball forward by breaking the lines — splitting them up by the first, second and last line of the other team’s defensive shape.

For this inaugural award, Rodri, can you please hand over the award to… Jan Paul van Hecke?

This might sound like an unlikely name to the casual viewer, but Brighton’s style of play means that centre-back Van Hecke is often the player tasked with igniting their ball progression with a fizzed pass into the midfield, a switch out to the flank, or a lofted pass over the top.

Understandably, many of the players on the list are centre-backs, who have a greater opportunity to break through the opposition’s defensive shape, but the sheer scale of Van Hecke’s passes through the first, second and last lines is particularly worthy of praise.

Player runs in behind: Ollie Watkins and Beto

While we’re on the topic of disrupting opposition lines, our next award goes to the player who made the most off-ball runs in behind the opposition defence when their team were in possession.

Accounting for the opportunity, two players tied with the highest share of runs in behind: Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Beto of Everton.

With a hybrid of Sean Dyche and David Moyes principles this season, Everton’s style has remained direct, with 16 per cent of their total passes played being long (defined as those of 35-plus yards) — meaning it is little wonder their strikers look to stretch the play with their deep runs.

Meanwhile, Watkins’ runs are crucial to the way Unai Emery likes to map out his attack — with no Premier League side logging more through balls this season than Aston Villa.

By running in behind, Watkins offers himself for a piercing pass played through towards goal, and if he does not receive the ball, he is still making space for Emery’s lurking No 10s — be that John McGinn, Morgan Rogers, Jacob Ramsey or Marco Asensio — to pick up possession between the lines.

Run up, the pair of you, and collect your shared award.

Lowest points tally in the Premier League era: Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City 

This one might sound a little convoluted, but it is notable how poor the relegation battle has been in 2024-25.

This was the first season in Premier League history that all three relegations were confirmed with four games remaining. It is also the first time all the promoted teams have gone straight back down in consecutive seasons.

In the context of the 20-team Premier League, this year’s trio of Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester have put up the poorest fight in their total points tallies, with only 59 points accrued between them from a possible 342. That would still only place you ninth in the season’s final standings — not even good enough for a European spot.

Leicester fans will be scratching their heads as to why Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side saved their best form for when it was too late, winning more points from their final four Premier League games, after their relegation was confirmed, than across their previous 20 (five).

Ultimately, it is an award that the three clubs can share — but none of them will be happy to claim.

Ipswich’s performance in 2024-25 was no laughing matter for their fans (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

High pressers: Bournemouth

Typically, handing out an award to the team with the highest volume of possession regains in the attacking third feels a little mundane.

The strongest teams in Europe normally dominate this metric, with Liverpool, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City all among the top 20 across Europe’s top four leagues. However, no team has registered more high regains than Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth.

A total of 216 possessions won in the attacking third is quite the statistic to read, with Iraola’s relentless approach attracting many admirers.

Such a tactic typically comes in two forms. In possession, Bournemouth will often play direct, long passes forward from the back, before squeezing the pitch and trying to win the second balls. Out of possession, they are comfortable going man-for-man and suffocating the opposition as they look to build up.

Whatever the approach, no team have generated more shots from high regains than Iraola’s side, with a breathless style that has made many across Europe sit up and take notice.

(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Oh, you want metrics even more niche than that? You should have said.

May we present to you…

Player with the most double pressures: Dominic Solanke

Yes, you read that correctly.

Using data from Footovision, we can measure the volume of double pressures — denoted as pressing one opponent before making another pressure within three seconds — that a player makes, with Spurs striker Dominic Solanke’s 5.8 per 90 minutes topping the list.

It is widely known that Solanke was brought to the club from Iraola’s Bournemouth for his out-of-possession work rate as much as his goalscoring output, and while the latter has not been quite a high as he would have hoped, he has shown that he must be a nightmare for centre-backs to play against.

No matter how much you try to drop a shoulder or move the ball quickly, the 27-year-old is like a wasp that you cannot swat away — constantly looking to force the opposing team into a mistake.

Wolves’ Marshall Munetsi and Anthony Gordon of Newcastle have also shown themselves to be pests out of possession, as the division’s only other two players with over five double pressures per 90.

So much of the modern game is geared towards players’ work rate out of possession rather than what they do on the ball. Solanke will hope for a higher goal tally next season, but there can be little doubting his defensive intensity when leading the line.

Most transitional team: Liverpool

Forest have been the archetypal counter-attacking team this season, bunkering in their defensive third before springing forward at breakneck speed when they regain possession.

Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are two further examples of a well-oiled transitional style, but people may have underestimated just how strong Liverpool have been in such transitional moments.

Given the strength of Arne Slot’s side in so many facets of the game, it is easy to forget that Liverpool have been one of the most punishing counter-attacking teams in the league. In fact, when mapping each team’s share of first passes forward during an attacking transition, alongside the volume of high-speed spring in such moments, Liverpool edge out the rest.

It is a trait of the team that even their head coach could not have expected to be quite so successful.

“If you go from one playing style to another, it’s much harder,” Slot recently told The Athletic. “A lot of things could stay the same (as under predecessor Jurgen Klopp) and that meant being able to really focus on what needed to be implemented. That’s why I think it was quite fast that you could see certain things being different. But still now, even after a season with me, this team are so fast on the counter-attack. I’ve never trained that, by the way!”

With the players in Liverpool’s squad, they would be foolish not to utilise their counter-attacking threat. As well as the Premier League title, they can be pleased to win our award for the most transitional team.

Sprinting dynamos: Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United

The Premier League is one of the most physically demanding leagues in world football, but who takes this to the extreme? Using Footovision’s data, we can discern which clubs are fighting for the title of “Lungs FC” by looking at the share of time spent sprinting when in and out of possession.

Unsurprisingly, Spurs have one hand on this trophy as one of the clear outliers in this metric. With the volume of injuries they have had, coach Ange Postecoglou’s approach has been questioned at times as he continued to implement such an intense style of play with a threadbare squad from which to choose.

The club with the other hand on our shared award are Newcastle, who were able to sustain a high-intensity, aggressive style on and off the ball in a manner that is more befitting of a Howe side.

With Champions League football coinciding with an injury-plagued campaign last season, Newcastle were not able to sustain the requisite energy to keep their trajectory trending upwards — but 2024-25 has seen them soar high with a domestic trophy and a fifth-placed finish built on a foundation of high work rate on and off the ball.

Phew, is anyone else tired? Time for a lie down.

See you same time next year.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler says late James Milner substitution was a ‘thank-you’: ‘I want him here next season’

Sports

Next

trending_flat

UConn’s Azzi Fudd details Paige Bueckers’ overlooked skills amid Wings star’s historic start to rookie season

Sports