Salah, Van Dijk two of three Liverpool players in Man City combined XI including Foden, Haaland

Liverpool and Manchester City face off on Sunday in a colossal match in the Premier League title race. A combined XI has never been more necessary. Injured players are not included, so no Trent Alexander-Arnold or Alisson, for example.

GK: Ederson (Manchester City)

The Alisson-Ederson debate will have been more interesting than the Caoimhin Kelleher-Ederson one, mainly because there isn’t one.

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RB: Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

Another debate that would have been better had a Liverpool player not been injured; Kyle Walker is the easy choice ahead of young Conor Bradley. Had Trent Alexander-Arnold been available, it would have been a close call.

CB: Ruben Dias (Manchester City)

The three-time Premier League winner is one of the best centre-backs in the world. He gets in ahead of his City team-mates and everyone that plays for Liverpool not named Virgil.

CB: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Van Dijk completes the best possible centre-back pairing using Premier League players from the last decade.

LB: Andy Robertson (Liverpool)

Pep Guardiola does not use a natural left-back but has made Nathan Ake one of the best in that position in England. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, he is not better than Robertson, who probably completes the best possible back four, now we mention it.

DM: Rodri (Manchester City)

The best defensive midfielder in the world has not lost in 60 competitive appearances – the Community Shield was lost on penalties, so does not count. A trip to Anfield is as tough as it will come for Rodri, whose impressive run could be about to come to an end.

CM: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

What a little magician this guy is. We love him and he gets in ahead of whoever Jurgen Klopp has to offer in his position.

CM: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

Liverpool’s midfield has always been critical to any success under Klopp and while Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are fine players, neither would start for Manchester City ahead of De Bruyne or Silva.

The former has arguably cemented himself as the greatest midfielder in Premier League history and walks into every combined XI we do involving City.

Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden celebrate a goal.

RW: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

And Salah does whenever we are doing a Liverpool combined XI. There is also a debate to be had regarding his Premier League legacy. Is he the best winger Our League has ever seen? He is the most efficient, that’s for sure.

One thing that has not really been spoken about with Salah is his incredible availability. His recent injury setbacks have made us realise just how durable he is, which is the most underrated attribute a footballer can have.

LW: Phil Foden (Manchester City)

Out of position? Maybe a little bit. Bothered? Not even a little bit. Foden frequently pops up in this position in concept England XIs, so don’t get your knickers in a twist.

Foden has arguably been the best player in the Premier League this year, scoring six goals in his last six appearances in the top flight.

ST: Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

The Darwin Nunez-Erling Haaland debate lasted around two weeks. The 2022 Community Shield sold us a dream before the latter showed he was better than we gave him credit for, and there was never any doubt over his ridiculous talent.

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