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This weekend sees a major clash in the Premier League, as fourth-placed Liverpool play host to league leaders Manchester City at Anfield.
The last time these two faced off, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. But with Manchester City extending their lead at the top of the table, Liverpool desperately need a win.
With three of the last four Premier League titles going to these two sides, it’s clear that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola possess two of the Premier League’s most talented squads
So if we were to put together a combined XI of players from Liverpool and Manchester City, who would make the cut?
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For the purpose of this article, we’ve lined up our combined XI in a 4-3-3 formation, which is the most commonly used system by both Liverpool and Manchester City.
Goalkeeper: Ederson (Manchester City)
Choosing the goalkeeper for this side was nigh on impossible. Both Ederson and Alisson Becker rank amongst not only the best goalkeepers in the Premier League, but amongst the best in the world, too.
And to make the choice even more tricky, both Brazilians have a similar style, too – acting as ‘sweeper-keepers’ in order to allow their sides to play with a remarkably high defensive line.
Statistics prove that the two are remarkably closely matched. Ederson has made 129 Premier League appearances, keeping 65 clean sheets and conceding 89 goals.
Over that time, the Manchester City keeper has made 216 saves, including two penalties, but he’s also made six errors that led directly to goals.
Alisson, meanwhile, has made 85 appearances, with 39 clean sheets and 60 goals conceded. The Liverpool custodian has made a total of 171 saves, including one penalty. But like Ederson, he isn’t immune to mistakes, having made four errors that led to goals.
In this combined XI, though, we’re giving Ederson the slight edge – primarily because he doesn’t seem to be as injury-prone as Alisson, who has missed lengthy periods of time with many issues. Really though, you could go with either keeper and not be wrong!
Right-Back: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
With respect to both Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo, who are both excellent right-backs in their own right, there was only ever one choice for this spot.
Despite not showing his best form during the current campaign, it’s hard to dispute that Trent Alexander-Arnold is the Premier League’s best right-back at the minute.
The 22-year-old, who broke into Liverpool’s first team in the 2017-18 season, has enjoyed an absolutely meteoric rise in the years that have followed. When it comes to assists, his output is almost unheard of when it comes to a right-back, as he’s registered a total of 29 in the Premier League during his career.
And he’s not shy of goals either, scoring four in the 2019-20 season, largely thanks to his dead-ball prowess.
Alexander-Arnold’s defensive ability can be questioned, but then the same criticism could be made of Walker and Cancelo. Therefore, Liverpool’s #66 takes his spot in this team.
Central Defense: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) and Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Despite the talents of players such as John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Joel Matip, and Joe Gomez, the choice for this team’s two center-back spots was an easy one.
Virgil van Dijk and Ruben Dias were both signed for big money - £75m and £62m respectively – but both defenders essentially transformed their team’s fortunes at the back almost upon arrival.
Van Dijk famously arrived at Liverpool for a world-record fee in January 2018. The former Southampton man added everything that the Reds needed to shore up their defense - from pace and power to an incredible ability to prevent attackers from dribbling past him.
And the fact that Liverpool have struggled so much since his ACL injury in the current season shows how much Jurgen Klopp relies on the Dutchman. Not only is he dominant from a defensive standpoint, but his awesome passing ability – he averages higher than an 89% success rate – also allows the Reds to start attacks from deep.
Dias has had a similar effect on Manchester City’s defense since arriving from Benfica in September. Signed with the reputation of more of an “old school” defender than the ones usually deployed by Pep Guardiola, he’s given City another dimension entirely at the back.
The Portuguese international has all the classy passing range – averaging a 93.2% success rate – that you’d expect from a City player. But his dominance in defensive situations – with an average of 1.1 interceptions, 2.8 clearances and 2.2 aerial duels won per game – cannot be overstated either.
Put these two defenders together, and the back-line of our combined side would be nearly impregnable.
Left-Back: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
Like the right-back slot, this was a relatively easy decision to make. Similarly to his fellow Liverpool full-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson hasn’t been on his best form during the current campaign.
Despite this, there’d be few who would argue that Benjamin Mendy, Joao Cancelo, or Oleksandr Zinchenko of Manchester City would deserve a place in front of him here.
Since joining from Hull City in the summer of 2017, Robertson has been a revelation at Liverpool. His debut season saw him deliver one goal and five assists, but his numbers have flown up at an astonishing rate since then.
In Liverpool’s title-winning 2019-20 campaign, for instance, the Scotsman finished the season with two goals and an amazing 12 assists, making him one of the Premier League’s most effective attacking players.
And despite his form not quite reaching its usual heights this season, he’s already got one goal and five assists to his name.
The Scotsman has incredible pace, can ping an accurate ball into the box from almost any angle, and is a pretty solid defender too. Any Premier League side would love to have him, and so it’s a no-brainer that we include him in this combined XI.
Midfield: Fabinho (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Both Liverpool and Manchester City possess some phenomenal midfielders, and so the list of the players who we’ve had to leave out of this combined XI is pretty exhaustive.
The likes of Fernandinho, Rodri, Thiago Alcantara, Georginio Wijnaldum, Phil Foden, and Ilkay Gundogan would walk into most teams in the world. But they don’t quite make it here.
In terms of the holding midfield berth, it was between Fernandinho, Rodri, and Fabinho. And it’s the Liverpool man who gets the nod for a variety of reasons.
Fernandinho would probably have been an easy choice for the spot in his prime. But the Brazil international is now 35 years old now and is clearly slowing down.
Fabinho and Rodri, on the other hand, are both in their prime. However, Fabinho’s statistics are far superior to the Spanish international when it comes to defensive work. The Brazilian scores higher in almost every area – outside of giving away fouls.
And while Rodri is renowned for his passing range, it’s actually Fabinho who has the higher pass success rate – 91.7% to 90.6%. Add in his ability to drop into the back-line when required, and Fabinho is a clear choice here.
In this midfield’s engine room, a case could’ve easily been made for Rodri or Liverpool’s own Spanish pass master Thiago. However, despite lacking the ability on the ball of those two players – and the dynamism of Wijnaldum – we’ve plumped for Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
Sure, Henderson doesn’t excel in any single area per se. But more than any other player, he acts as the Reds’ driving force, and the intangible leadership qualities he possesses mean that it’d be tricky to leave him out.
The England captain led Liverpool to their first Premier League title – something even the great Steven Gerrard was unable to.
Fabinho and Henderson lack creativity, though, which is where Kevin De Bruyne comes in. And with respect to Gundogan, this was an easy choice.
De Bruyne’s statistics speak for themselves. Perhaps the Premier League’s most creative player overall, the Belgian delivered an insane 20 assists during the 2019-20 campaign.
That took his overall total to 65 – a number that’s even more astonishing when you remember he missed most of the 2018-19 campaign with injury. And in the current campaign, he already has ten to his name.
Add in his ability to chip in with important and often spectacular goals – he scored 13 in 2019-20 – and it was simply impossible to leave him out.
Forwards: Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Both Liverpool and Manchester City are blessed with some awesome forwards. And Liverpool’s front trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane are almost ingrained in Premier League legend, thanks to their performances in the title-winning 2019-20 campaign.
However, we’ve had to leave two of them out here to accommodate two of Manchester City’s best.
Once maligned by many for the way he moved from Liverpool to Manchester City, it’s hard to dispute the fact that Raheem Sterling is today one of the best forwards in world football.
Over the years, he’s developed his game tremendously under Pep Guardiola and is now one of the Premier League’s most consistent goalscorers. The 2019-20 season saw him reach a personal milestone of 20 Premier League goals, meaning he now has a total of 68 in the competition for Manchester City.
But the England international is also more than capable of acting as a provider, with his best return being a total of 11 assists during City’s 2017-18 title-winning campaign.
Sergio Aguero, meanwhile, is practically a must when it comes to the central striking role. Sure, Firmino may bring the best out of his teammates, but his goalscoring record absolutely pales in comparison to the Argentine.
Aguero now has an incredible 180 Premier League goals to his name in just 268 appearances. That total puts him in fourth place in the Premier League’s all-time goalscoring list.
But the Argentine also has the record for the most hat-tricks in Premier League history (12), won the Golden Boot in 2014-15, and famously scored the goal that won City their first Premier League title in 2011-12.
Kun might be getting older these days, but he’s no less deadly than he was in his prime.
And rounding out the forward line in our team is Salah. Of Liverpool’s front trio, the Egyptian is almost certainly the most important.
Since arriving at Anfield in the summer of 2017, Salah’s goal output has been absolutely phenomenal.
He delivered 44 goals in 52 games across all competitions in his first season and has never dipped below 20 in all competitions in the four that have followed. He’s reached 21 goals in 31 games in the current campaign already.
And despite some critics deriding him for being selfish, Salah has also proven that he can turn provider when needed – the 2019-20 campaign saw him reach a total of 10 assists, the highest return in his Liverpool career.
