Liverpool vs. Manchester City: Combined XI | Premier League 2020-21

Midfield: Fabinho (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

Jordan Henderson acts as Liverpool's captain, leader, and heartbeat on the pitch.

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.