Squad of the Season

Another Premier League fantasy campaign is at an end and the Squad of the Season has been confirmed.

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Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo were masters of their fantasy field this season

Chelsea provide the most number of players for the 15-man team, with four from Stamford Bridge. And, added to that, two other Chelsea players were removed from the squad to make sure it would fit within the budget. Considering champions Manchester United and runners-up Liverpool have just two players each it's a strange quirk.

Let's start, though, with the gong which every Premier League player is gunning for - the Most Valuable Player of the Season. This award is for the star who has amassed the most points over the course of the campaign and, yet again, that accolade falls to Cristiano Ronaldo. The United winger may have just over two thirds of his tally from last season, but 196 points from 32 starts is still a considerable haul.

Ronaldo, with 18 goals, only just held off the challenge from two other midfielders to be named as the MVP. Perennial goalscorers Steven Gerrard (187 points) and Frank Lampard (182) came closest to stealing the title from the Portuguese winger but in the end they have to settle for the silver and bronze medals.

The other two midfielders to make the squad were well back in the points, but they were two players who provided great joy for the bargain hunters. Manchester City's Stephen Ireland started the season as a £5m man but, by the time the end of the campaign had come around, he was worth £7.7m. A return of 141 points from such a snip of a price represents a great return.

Matty Taylor was also effective, certainly in the second half of the season, climbing from £5.5m to £6.7m with 138 points. The fact that his form came a few months into the season and that he plays for a less fashionable side in Bolton Wanderers explains why his value did not rise by a higher amount.

It's hardly been a vintage season for strikers in the game. Premier League Golden Boot winner Nicolas Anelka is also the top striker in the fantasy game with 152 points, some way short of Emmanuel Adebayor's 169 last season. Despite spending much time on the bench, Anelka's 19 goals were good value for a top four striker as he began the season at just £7m, rising to £8.6m.

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Nicolas Anelka: Top scoring striker

The next two strikers in the list were removed from the Team of the Season due to budget constraints. Dirk Kuyt (138) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (129) both had to be omitted. As the second best striker on points, the position of Kuyt as a striker raises an interesting question. As he now normally plays in a midfield role, he would have been right up there with Gerrard, Lampard and Ronaldo in points scored - in the region of 180 - if classed as such in the fantasy game.

The two forward places in the squad actually go to Bolton Wanderers' Kevin Davies (127) and Peter Crouch (123) of Portsmouth.

Chelsea have two defenders in the squad and a third, John Terry, was removed on cost. Jose Bosingwa's early season form sent him well clear and he always seemed likely to be named as the Defender of the Season. However, despite Guus Hiddink coming in and sorting out the team, he was eventually overtaken and finishes second on 121 points. Ashley Cole also appears, thanks to his goal against Sunderland on the final day of the season which pushed him up to 96.

The top performing defender was of course Nemanja Vidic of Manchester United. He notched 144 points with 23 clean sheets and four goals. It marks a large improvement on last season's total of 109 but he cannot match Joleon Lescott's 150 of 2007-08. Lescott does make the squad himself this season, finishing as the third highest scoring defender on 111 points.

The final place at the back goes to Brede Hangeland of Fulham, one of the bargains of the season. Though he only managed to score the one goal early in the season, 14 clean sheets made a £4m summer purchase a steal.

Two goalkeepers had to be ignored in order to fill the last goalkeeping slot; both Chelsea's Petr Cech and Edwin van der Sar of Manchester United proving too costly. And that opened the door for another Fulham player as Mark Schwarzer takes his place with 102 points. But the Goalkeeper of the Season is Liverpool's Pepe Reina, defending his crown and improving his points haul too, finishing on 133 with 20 clean sheets.

The squad, if purchased at the start of the season, would have cost £100m rising to £117.8m by the end of the campaign with a total points tally of 2,042.