London Team of the Year: Jarrod Bowen, Heung-min Son and Bernd Leno get the nod as Arsenal dominate

It has been a big year for London’s Premier League clubs.

West Ham were crowned European champions, Arsenal went close to the title and look ready to win the biggest trophies, there has been progress made at Tottenham after a change of manager, while Chelsea have spent a billion... and lost more Premier League games than any other team.

Fulham finished 10th in the Premier League and reached their first League Cup semi-final, Crystal Palace brought back Roy Hodgson to guide them back to safety and Brentford continue to impress.

And there have been plenty of standout performers in the capital. Declan Rice lifted the Conference League with West Ham and has taken his game to a new level at Arsenal, while Heung-min Son and Jarrod Bowen have continued to star.

But who makes the team of the year? Every capital club, bar one, is represented. Here, our writers have chosen their best London-based XIs of 2023…

Dan Kilpatrick (3-4-3): Vicario; Saliba, Gabriel, Guehi; Porro, Rice, Odegaard, Saka; Eze, Mbuemo, Bowen

Yes, I've gone with Bukayo Saka at left wing-back but there were no stellar options there.

The Arsenal players - and Declan Rice, who led West Ham to the Conference League before joining the Gunners - need no explanation.

Guglielmo Vicario has only played half a season but has been outstanding for Tottenham, and Pedro Porro gets in at right wing-back. He caught the eye going forward from January last term and has excelled under Ange Postecoglou.

Eberechi Eze and Bryan Mbuemo were both outstanding in the latter half of last term - Mbuemo scored against Liverpool, Chelsea, West Ham and Spurs (twice) for Brentford - and have continued to impress this season when fit.

Jarrod Bowen gets better and better for West Ham and has taken Rice's place as the crowd favourite.

Marc Guehi has been quietly impressive for Crystal Palace and England.

Nizaar Kinsella (4-3-3): Leno; Porro, Guehi, Saliba, Robinson; Rice, Eze, Odegaard; Saka, Bowen, Mbeumo

Jarrod Bowen and Bryan Mbeumo just pip Heung-min Son due to their consistency throughout the year.

Pedro Porro, Antonee Robinson, and Bernd Leno are featured in less competitive full-back and goalkeeping positions.

I have left out Harry Kane, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ivan Toney and a host of new Spurs signings despite good performances, having not played a full 12 months in the Premier League.

Chelsea players are left out entirely, which will come as little surprise.

The high player turnover and injury rate has also meant few individuals have played consistently at Stamford Bridge.

Simon Collings: (4-2-3-1): Leno; White, Saliba, Zouma, Zinchenko; Rice, Palhinha; Saka, Odegaard, Son; Bowen

Before the comments blow up, my selection was based on players having a full 12 months in London this year on their CV. Hence there is no Harry Kane or James Maddison, Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven and others who have shone for Spurs recently.

Bernd Leno gets the nod in goal after making a mockery of his £8million fee since joining Fulham.

Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s form has dipped this season, but they were excellent for the first half of the year. William Saliba is a no-brainer at centre-back and is joined by Kurt Zouma, who led West Ham to European glory.

Declan Rice has, somehow, gone to another level since joining Arsenal and Joao Palhinha continues to be a tackling machine for Fulham.

Ahead of them, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Son Heung-min were all easy picks, with Jarrod Bowen leading the line.

Malik Ouzia (4-3-3): Leno; White, Saliba, Guehi, Emerson; Odegaard, Rice, Jensen; Saka, Bowen, Son

I’ve only considered players who’ve been in London since January (sorry to Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario - and Alfie May) and wanted to include at least one from each of the capital’s top-flight club but Chelsea have been simply too bad.

I struggled most at full-back. Ben White edges out Pedro Porro, who has only really come alive under Ange Postecoglou this season, while Emerson was an important part of West Ham’s Conference League triumph and has been excellent so far this term.

I’ve gone with Mathias Jensen’s creativity in midfield rather than shoehorning Joao Palhinha in as a second holder alongside Declan Rice. Maybe the Portuguese comes in when we play the north-west’s team of the year way from home.

Otherwise, there are a fair few obvious picks, with Gabriel, Lucas Paqueta and Bryan Mbeumo unluckiest to miss out.

Dom Smith (4-2-3-1): Leno; Porro, Saliba, Van de Ven, Robinson; Jensen, Rice; Saka, Odegaard, Son; Bowen

Everyone in my team stood out in the second half of last season as well as so far this term.

The one exception is Micky van de Ven, who has been a revelation for Tottenham makes the cut despite playing just 12 games for Spurs before his hamstring injury.

Across the whole 12 months, it is hard to argue that any goalkeeper has been more consistent than Fulham’s Bernd Leno.

He is joined by team-mate left-back Antonee Robinson, who has made the most interceptions in the Premier League by a country mile this season.

James Maddison misses out because Brentford’s Mathias Jensen has barely had an off day all year.