With the 2021/22 Premier League season having come to an end, there will have been many looking to try and work out who the best and worst XIs were of the season.
Indeed, top Premier League commentator Ian Darke is one of those individuals who were tasked as part of his job with ESPN to try and come up with the unenviable challenge.
Of course, whilst he might have been enjoying what arabic-casinos.net can provide him with during the offseason, it does seem as though he had made some rather strange decisions, with many of them perhaps being considered rather controversial, too.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the best and worst XI from the 21/22 Premier League season, as per Darke’s opinion.
Best XI: David de Gea (Man Utd); Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea); Joao Cancelo (Manchester City); Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Declan Rice (West Ham United), Christian Eriksen (Brentford); Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur).
Indeed, it could be rather difficult to have too many complaints about the XI that has been chosen here, with each of the players having played a blinder. Some might criticise the selection of De Gea as the goalkeeper, although it could be argued that with the Spaniard, things would have been even worse for Man Utd last season than they already were.
Now, if you want a huge amount of controversy, then check out what Darke declared to be his worst XI last season:
Worst XI: Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea); Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Raphael Varane (Manchester United), Junior Firpo (Leeds United); Paul Pogba (Manchester United), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United); Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal).
It seems as though the commentator has taken aim at the squads of Manchester United and Chelsea, and to be honest, that does not come as a real surprise, although two of the Blues could find themselves hard done by in this list of rankings.
Kante is perhaps included because of the high-standards that he has set for himself since ever turning up in the Premier League, which is possibly why he has been considered for this team, but the inclusion of Kepa Arrizabalga does seem a little odd.
The Spaniard is second choice at Chelsea behind Edouard Mendy, therefore was regularly found on the bench. Secondly, he was also rather solid when called upon, thus making the decision all the more strange. We can no longer highlight the transfer fee, as this was the third season he has been at Stamford Bridge. Additionally, Darke cited his penalty miss in the League Cup – therefore it is not quite a justification for inclusion in the PL worst XI.
