Premier League All-Star draft 2022/23
It’s NBA All-Star weekend, and you know what that means – it’s time for us at 90min to do our own knockoff version of the main event.
This year, we’ve brought in Sean Walsh and Jack Gallagher to draft two teams based on the Premier League 2022/23 season so far.
Jack won the coin toss (Sean’s belief that ‘tails never fails’ in fact failed) and so had the first pick. Here’s how the draft played out – be sure to vote for your favourite team below or on 90min’s social media pages.
Draft selections
1st picks
Jack: With my first pick, I have to go for Erling Haaland. He’s Erling Haaland, he’s scored, what is it, a million goals this season? I think it would be quite nice for me to build a team here that will actually see him go in behind a backline and then pass it to him. It’s a good move not just for me but for him.
Sean: I think I’m going to have to take Harry Kane off the board, if anything just so you can’t build a team with both of them. He’s had an underrated season, second-most goals in the league, if Haaland wasn’t here we’d be talking about him more as a Player of the Year contender. It’s gone under the radar because Spurs have been crap.
2nd picks
Rashford was selected in the second round of picks / Gareth Copley/GettyImages
Jack: (After literally 47 seconds of deliberating) I’m going to go for Marcus Rashford because left wing’s a bit sparse. I actually think for this team, maybe Rashford isn’t the perfect guy because he’s more perfect for Kane. I might play him up top in a two. Rashford in your team is amazing because Kane drops deep and plays it over the top like for Son Heung-min from two years ago. In my team, two players running in behind, I’m not sure, but it’s hard to argue with the form. There’s quite a drop off from a superstar like Rashford to the rest of the left forwards.
Sean: I’m going to take Bukayo Saka. He’s turned into one of the best players in the league this season, stepped up and shown he can be the main man on a team contending for the title. He leads a lot of their attacks.
3rd picks
Jack: My next pick, I will go for Kevin De Bruyne because Pep Guardiola’s not the manager in this situation, I am. I’ll play him just in behind Rashford and Haaland as like a ‘trequartista’ with the remit of actually passing to them. He’s got these incredible numbers this season but there’s a lot of assists left on the table because of how Man City play.
Sean: I’m going to take Martin Odegaard next. It was close between these two, Odegaard’s become a bit De Bruyne-lite this season. Again, someone like Saka who has really stepped up this season, taken more responsibility in big games.
4th picks
Jack: I’m going to take Casemiro. I’m going to play a 4-3-1-2 and having Casemiro as a sitter is very beneficial. He’s been one of the best players in the league. It just makes such a difference for Man Utd who haven’t won anything in a long time to have a player come in who’s still capable and won everything at the highest level, his influence in big games. Having that sort of presence and know-how makes a huge difference.
Sean: I need to take another midfielder so I’ll go with Bruno Guimaraes, who Newcastle have not won without this season. It also secures me a vote from 90min’s Graeme Bailey, I can’t overlook that. He’s everything we thought he would be and more, it makes you wonder why other big teams didn’t push more aggressively to sign him.
5th picks
Jack: I’m going to go for, and just basing this on when he’s fit, Rodrigo Bentancur as a runner in midfield and for the team I’m trying to play. I’m going full 2005 Carlo Ancelotti. Arguably the best box-to-box midfielder in the league is Bentancur, Spurs are 1000x better as a football team with him in it. He’s so underrated and so talented.
Sean: I think I need to go big with a defensive position. I will go for Kieran Trippier. The gap between him and the other right-backs is quite sizeable, Trippier’s been far and away the best, he’s almost just taken Trent Alexander-Arnold for his own gain. He also has everything he picked up at Atletico Madrid and unlike his final season at Tottenham, he is fully fit.
6th picks
Zinchenko’s been a revelation at Arsenal / Visionhaus/GettyImages
Jack: For this formation I need full-backs who bomb up and down like madmen. In terms of the Premier League and maybe the world I don’t think there’s a better one than Reece James. I know he’s been injured a lot and that should be a concern for Chelsea fans because you can’t replace what he brings. I need a guy who can come up and down, a great crosser and clean finisher, defend the back post, one of the better all-round full-backs.
Sean: I’m going to throw a curveball with some of my picks later on so I think now I need to pick a safe left-back. He’s been injured a bit but he’s been the best in the league in his position – Oleksandr Zinchenko. I need the stuff he brings – everything – in my team. An annoyingly smart pickup by Arsenal.
7th picks
Jack: I feel like I should take a centre-half and I’m going to take maybe my favourite in the league, Lisandro Martinez. I think he’s great, one of the better signings this season, a winner and a leader, overcome a lot of dumb criticism.
Sean: So I’m going to take the person I thought you would take and that’s Thiago Silva. Chelsea are having a bad season but he’s doing all he can at 38. To do that in such a young team with so much instability… just a top class player, extending his legacy.
8th picks
Jack: There’s not many leaders who can still contribute in the league. There’s two on our list, and you’ve taken one, so out of sheer fear of losing the other I’m going to take Raphael Varane. And I’ve just realised I have so many Man Utd players! They’ve always had good players in bad circumstances but this year with the right coaching and transfers do you care about the price if your club has the money if they get people like Varane?
Sean: I’m going to pick my other centre-back, so I’ll take Gabriel Magalhaes, it was a real toss-up between him and William Saliba, whose post-World Cup form has been a bit shaky and Arsenal fans tell us Gabriel has been better over the whole season. I’ll trust the Arsenal fans and hope they repay my faith with some votes, I have a lot of their players, I’m selling my soul.
9th picks
Sean obviously went for Raya / Richard Sellers/GettyImages
Jack: I think this is a really good pick, Alexis Mac Allister. He’s brilliant, fits that box-to-box role perfectly for me, won the World Cup. Young and talented on the ball. I remember him coming through and there was so much talk even though you didn’t see him for a long time. In the last 12 to 18 months, he’s exploded on the scene. There aren’t a lot of teams in the league he wouldn’t start for. It says a lot about his talent and Brighton’s recruitment.
Sean: I will go for my goalkeeper, and I’m going to overlook Nick Pope in favour of a homer pick with David Raya. I adore his game. As someone who goes to Brentford a lot, he’s a decent shot stopper for someone who’s quite short, the way he can pass the ball is as good as Ederson, he comes and gets every single cross and I really value that. He 6ft but plays like he’s 6ft6. You look for these things in a goalkeeper.
10th picks
Jack: I’m going for my left-back. There’s two really great options left. Luke Shaw has been one of the league’s better players but I have a lot of Man Utd players. I’ll go for my favourite left-back, brilliant going both ways, been a better contributor going forward consistently than Trent Alexander-Arnold, his tenacity is unmatched, a great interview… Pervis Estupinan. No, Andy Robertson.
Sean: I have two ways to end this draft, and I don’t feel too great about either because of who’s in your front three. I have to think of some workarounds, should I go 4-3-3 or 4-4-2? I think the latter, so I will go for another homer pick with Ivan Toney. He’ll play with Kane like I wanted England to at the World Cup – what would France have done if they’d brought him on in that quarter-final? He’s proven he’s not just a target man but more like a 3D target man, does the traditional things but he’s such a nuisance and opponents worry about him so much. 14 league goals already, only had 12 last season.
11th picks
Magic in his boots / Clive Rose/GettyImages
Jack: My goalkeeper… you took the guy I wanted. David Raya’s been the best for me, we’ve talked about him before and he’s brilliant. When you saw Brentford last year when he was injured, they were staggeringly bad. You’d never think that with only a goalkeeper coming out of the team. The options I have left are Nick Pope, Bernd Leno, David De Gea, and the guy I’m going for, Aaron Ramsdale. The Geordies will be angry but in my team he suits it better. Pope is a classic goalkeeper but Ramsdale’s good on the ball, a good presence. He’s been solid and consistent, a lot of goalkeepers can throw wobblers but he doesn’t really anymore. I wouldn’t worry about him, I trust him.
Sean: So I have the last pick. I’ve really been tossing up who to pick. The drop off from Rashford at left wing is annoyingly staggering. There’s a few I could pick. Gabriel Martinelli’s been good but has tailed off a bit and isn’t really the profile for this role. Leandro Trossard might come in for him at Arsenal, but I’m going to go for Kaoru Mitoma who took his place at Brighton and is why they weren’t too sad to sell the Belgian. He brings a bit of entertainment and a wildcard factor. When you watch him… he’s a superstar.
Order of selection summary
#1 – Erling Haaland – Team Jack (1)
#2 – Harry Kane – Team Sean (1)
#3 – Marcus Rashford – Team Jack (2)
#4 – Bukayo Saka – Team Sean (2)
#5 – Kevin De Bruyne – Team Jack (3)
#6 – Martin Odegaard – Team Sean (3)
#7 – Casemiro – Team Jack (4)
#8 – Bruno Guimaraes – Team Sean (4)
#9 – Rodrigo Bentancur – Team Jack (5)
#10 – Kieran Trippier – Team Sean (5)
#11 – Reece James – Team Jack (6)
#12 – Oleksandr Zinchenko – Team Sean (6)
#13 – Lisandro Martinez – Team Jack (7)
#14 – Thiago Silva – Team Sean (7)
#15 – Raphael Varane – Team Jack (8)
#16 – Gabriel Magalhaes – Team Sean (8)
#17 – Alexis Mac Allister – Team Jack (9)
#18 – David Raya – Team Sean (9)
#19 – Andy Robertson – Team Jack (10)
#20 – Ivan Toney – Team Sean (10)
#21 – Aaron Ramsdale – Team Jack (11)
#22 – Kaoru Mitoma – Team Sean (11)
Draft teams
Team Jack (4-3-1-2): Ramsdale; R. James, Varane, L. Martinez, Robertson; Casemiro, Bentancur, Mac Allister; De Bruyne; Haaland, Rashford
Team Sean (4-4-2): Raya; Trippier, T. Silva, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Saka, Guimaraes, Odegaard, Mitoma; Kane, Toney
Source: 90mins
