The greatest XI in Premier League history is a pretty well-trodden debate.
Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville... yada yada, you get the picture, so we wanted to switch things up here at GIVEMESPORT and take a slightly different angle on the Premier League's upper echelons.
For that, we've been inspired by the lightning start that Mohamed Salah has made to the current campaign, notching a remarkable six goals and three assists in seven league games for Liverpool.
Incredible Premier League seasons
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the sort of start that could see Salah top the 2017/18 campaign that saw him return to the Premier League with one of the greatest individual seasons ever seen.
And that's the angle that we're coming from today because we decided to imagine the Premier League's greatest ever XI if we were to build it based on the peak of players alone. You follow?
Is Mo Salah the best player in the world? (Football Terrace)
Well, to make the definition of 'peak' a little easier, we're basing it upon the finest individual seasons that the league has ever seen and it's definitely not a spoiler to say that 2017/18 Salah gets the nod.
In other words, we're drawing up the Premier League's greatest ever individual campaigns based upon the opinion of your humble writer and roughly whittling them down into the ultimate starting XI.
The greatest individual Premier League seasons
However, while we're by no means abandoning positions, don't take the fact that it's an XI all-too seriously because you'll quickly find out that our line-up is outrageously top-heavy and attacking.
But hey, those players just make for the most exciting brand of zeniths. So, without further ado, be sure to check out the ultimate XI of the greatest ever individual Premier League seasons below:
GK: Petr Cech (2004/05)
Cech was so unbeatable during his first season at Chelsea that he went 1,024 minutes without conceding in the Premier League and accumulated 24 clean sheets in just 35 matches. Wowsers.
CB: John Terry (2004/05)
The captain, leader, legend behind the greatest defence in Premier League history, conceding just 15 goals all season, Terry finished 10th in the Ballon d'Or votes for this most remarkable of years.
CB: Nemanja Vidic (2008/09)
Vidic was named the Premier League Player of the Season for a stunning campaign in which Manchester United accumulated 14 clean sheets on the bounce and conceded just 24 goals.
CB: Virgil van Dijk (2018/19)
Such was Van Dijk's brilliance in his first full season at Liverpool that he wasn't dribbled past once in the Premier League and probably should have beaten Lionel Messi to the Ballon d'Or trophy.
RM: Mohamed Salah (2017/18)
Not only is Salah's total of 32 goals the most prolific season in Premier League history, but he achieved the feat with just one penalty in a Liverpool side that finished fourth - and notched 10 assists for good measure.
CM: Frank Lampard (2009/10)
The greatest ever goalscoring season from a Premier League midfielder. Lampard was a force of nature with a mind-boggling 22 strikes and 14 assists, including a hat-trick, as Chelsea romped to the title.
CM: Yaya Toure (2013/14)
Toure's statistics during Manchester City's second Premier League-winning season are so bonkers that they go viral most weeks, posting an unbelievable 20 goals and nine assists from 35 outings.
LM: Gareth Bale (2012/13)
A blistering 21 strikes earned Bale both the senior and junior PFA awards, Premier League Player of the Season prize, a place in the UEFA Team of the Year and a world-record move to Real Madrid.
FW: Thierry Henry (2002/03)
Scoring 24 goals in the Premier League is one thing, but amassing 20 assists, which still endures as the record all these years later, in the same season for a combined 44 goal contributions is insane.
ST: Luis Suarez (2013/14)
Despite missing the first five games through suspension and not taking a single penalty, Suarez managed to amass a barely comprehensible 31 goals and 12 assists in just 33 games. Unreal.
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo (2007/08)
With a then record-breaking 31 goals for a 38-game season, Ronaldo was so unstoppable during the 2007/08 campaign that he became the Premier League's most recent Ballon d'Or winner.
Premier League 2021/22: Fixtures, Results, Odds, Ball, Tickets And Everything You Need To Know
Just imagine this line-up together...
If these 11 versions of these 11 players formed a legendary XI at the same time, then you bet that they'd romp their way to the Premier League title with a maximum 114 points.
The thought of having three players that all surpassed 30 goals with a central-midfield partnership that bagged 20 strikes of their own is enough to make any contemporary back-line tremble.
Marry that to the most ironclad and impenetrable defensive unit that the Premier League has ever seen and it's fair to say that this line-up makes for the absolute peak of England's top-flight.
We'll just have to wait and see whether Salah can continue his flying start to the 2021/22 season in order to replace, well, himself at the zenith of the Premier League's individual performances.
