There are always annual occasions which gets us up out of bed with excitement when things in the world are not going so well.
There’s Christmas, your birthday and, of course, the unveiling of the ratings of your favourite players in an over-priced computer game.
Yes, FIFA 21 is coming soon and in an annual celebration of the launch, EA have unveiled their best Premier League XI ratings.
So without further ado, here's the best XI in the Premier League on this year's edition.
Goalkeeper
Alisson Becker (Liverpool), Rating: 90
The best player in between the sticks on FIFA 21 is Liverpool’s Alisson Becker, which is understandable given his performances which helped Liverpool to win their first Premier League title.
However, despite this, there is some argument that perhaps Ederson should be the best goalkeeper given he won the Golden Glove in the 2019/2020 season, but overall a good start.
Defenders
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Rating: 87
CB: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Rating: 90
CB: Aymeric Laporte (Man City), Rating 87
LB: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool), Rating: 87
A somewhat predictable back four, you can’t argue about the influence that the three Liverpool players have had in terms of their displays over the past two seasons, although they forgot how to defend once they were untouchable.
Laporte has cemented himself as one of the best centre-backs in the league and rightly deserves a place as one of the highest rated players in the league on FIFA 21.
Midfielders
CM: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Rating: 91
DM: N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Rating: 88
CM: Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Rating: 87
With the EA choosing a 4-3-3 (or if you want to be pedantic a 4-1-2-3), you can’t overlook Kante as the best defensive midfielder in the league. The nicest guy in football will certainly be smiling as he is next to Bruno Fernandes, who has been impressive and vital to the form that Man United have shown since his arrival in January 2020 and Kevin De Bruyne, where I believe there would have been a riot if he had a rating below 90.
Forwards
RW: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Rating: 90
ST: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Rating: 89
LW: Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Rating: 90
Who cares about the midfielders on FIFA? It’s all about the forwards, right?
Mane was always going to have a high rating as his performances over the previous season made him (in my humblest of opinions) the best player in the Liverpool squad with his striking partner Mo Salah also joining this exclusive team.
Now Aguero is one of the best strikers in the league, but given that Arsenal didn’t have a lot going for them last season, you would think that Aubameyang would be a close second, or even the highest rated striker in the game. However, as we all know, EA has no feelings so have stuck to the Argentine for this game.
A fair reflection of perhaps the best Premier League XI coming into this season, who would be your best starting XI? Comment below on who you would have picked.