FOUR Newcastle players named by host in major surprise as talkSPORT presenters reveal their Team of the Season

Yet another thrilling Premier League season has come and gone, which can only mean one thing.

It’s time for our talkSPORT presenters to give their verdicts on who was their player of the season, underrated player of the season, manager of the season and team of the season.

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In the first instalment of our awards pieces, we begin with the team of the season as Jeff Stelling, Andy Townsend and Ally McCoist all shared their verdicts on who they believe were the stars of the show.

Unlike the choices for the underrated player and manager of the season, there was actually some uniformity among the trio’s picks.

Four players were featured in each of Townsend, McCoist and Stelling’s choices.

But that’s not to say there weren’t any intriguing choices, especially in Stelling’s team, although Newcastle fans may not disagree.

McCoist also went for an interesting front three in terms of how it would look on paper, even if the trio have all slammed home plenty of goals this season.

Read below to find out who made the cut!

Jeff Stelling’s Team of the Season

In goal, Stelling chose one of the joint winners of this season’s Premier League Golden Glove award.

And it wasn’t David Raya.

Instead, Stelling gave Matz Sels the nod.

The Nottingham Forest goalkeeper kept an equal-best 13 clean sheets and made 120 saves, the fourth-most in the English top flight.

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Sels also showed plenty of prowess in the air and registered the most punches of the ball with an impressive 28, six more than Jordan Pickford, who was the next best.

Completing Stelling’s defensive unit was Daniel Munoz, Nikola Milenkovic, Dan Burn and Milos Kerkez.

Munoz was a standout for Crystal Palace and led the league’s defenders in terms of the most tackles made with 123.

The Colombian was equally adept going forward and provided five assists.

Milenkovic proved to be one of the signings of the season and played a big part in why Sels finished as one of the Golden Glove winners.

Burn marked a curious choice given the prowess of Virgil van Dijk, Gabriel and William Saliba to name just three.

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As for Kerkez, he enjoyed a breakout season with the Cherries and appears destined to move on to bigger and better in the summer.

Onto Stelling’s midfield, where he named Bruno Guimaraes, Alexis Mac Allister and Bruno Fernandes.

In a dreadful season for Manchster United, Fernandes was one of the very, very few shining lights and Red Devils fans will hate to think of how bad things could have been without his 18 goal contributions.

Mac Allister was a vital cog in Liverpool’s engine room as his industry played a key role in the club ending Manchester City’s stranglehold on the Premier League trophy.

Guimaraes was Newcastle’s Mr. Reliable as he played the third-most minutes amongst midfielders in the league this term and skippered the club to a Champions League return.

Up top, Stelling went for Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy.

Having finished atop the goalscoring and assist charts, Salah’s inclusion needs no justification.

Nor does Isak’s, as the Swede finished second in the Golden Boot race with 23 goals, his best-ever league return.

Murphy’s selection will certainly raise eyebrows.

But the fact the 30-year-old enjoyed his finest season to date with eight goals and 12 assists gives some weight to the argument.

Andy Townsend’s Team of the Seaoson

Instead of Sels, Townsend feels Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson deserved to be in his team of the season.

The Brazilian finished with nine clean sheets, but it could have been far more had he not missed ten games due to injuries and concussion.

Townsend also went with a different choice at right-back and chose Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina.

At the heart of defence was Aina’s Forest teammate Milenkovic and Liverpool skipper Van Dijk, who boasted the most clean sheets among every player this season with 14. Kerkez was named at left-back.

In the midfield, Townsend went with a completely different trio in the form of Ryan Gravenberch, Youri Tielemans and Declan Rice.

It turned out Liverpool had the defensive midfielder they wanted right under their noses in the form of Gravenberch, who was superb for the Reds this term.

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So too was Tielemans as he acted as Aston Villa’s metronome and chief creator in the midfield while Rice developed into a serious box-to-box threat for the Gunners.

In Townsend’s attack, Salah and Isak were named while there was also room for Brentford sensation Bryan Mbeumo.

Prior to the 2024/25 season, Mbeumo had scored ten or more goals in a single campaign just twice, although both were in the English and French second tiers.

But the 25-year-old smashed all expectations as he finished with a whopping haul of 20 for the Bees, which placed him fourth in the Golden Boot race and now on the radar of Man United.

Ally McCoist’s Team of the Season

We now turn to Ally McCoist’s selections, where he sided with Stelling and chose Sels as his goalkeeper.

He also recreated Towsend’s back four, meaning Aina, Milenkovic, Van Dijk and Kerkez all made the cut.

In the midfield, McCoist chose Fernandes, Rice and Tielemans.

As for the forwards, McCoist couldn’t avoid selecting Salah and Isak but there was room for one name Townsend and Stelling did not pick.

That would be Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood, who bagged a sensational 20 goals for the Reds en route to a berth in next season’s Conference League.

The Kiwi international’s tally stood at a stunning 18 goals after 25 games, but a run of two in his last 11 meant he missed out on finishing higher in the Golden Boot race.