Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have both named their Premier League Team of the Season so far – and have managed to agree on eight of their 11 players.
The season reached what should have been its halfway point over the weekend with Newcastle’s 1-1 draw v Manchester United the last of the ‘Boxing Day’ fixtures. You can see our Player Ratings from St James’ Park here. However, after what has been a very disrupted month due to a number of postponements, 18 matches in total have been called off.
Nonetheless, the Sky Sports pundits reckon they have seen enough to pick a Team of the Season so far. They have also selected their coach, player and young player of the year to date.
And although they concurred on Pep Guardiola, Mohamed Salah and Phil Foden, they could not agree entirely on their teams.
Indeed, there were plenty of surprises, with a loanee making Carragher’s side, while Neville also selected a Wolves player.
In defence, the pair agreed on Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil Van Dijk, Antonio Rudiger and Joao Cancelo.
Their midfields also both contained Declan Rice, while in attack, the pair were able to agree on Salah, Foden and Diogo Jota.
But the pair opted for differing formations. As such, Neville went with a 3-4-3 in naming Ruben Dias as a third centre-half. He also selected Rodri in midfield alongside Rice, while selecting Alisson Becker in goal.
Carragher, meanwhile, selected Aaron Ramsdale in goals, and instead selecting a flat-back four. That allowed Conor Gallagher to make the midfield, while he also made space for Bernardo Silva.
Gary Neville’s Team of the Season
(3-4-3): Alisson; Virgil van Dijk, Ruben Dias, Antonio Rudiger; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Rodri, Declan Rice, Joao Cancelo; Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Phil Foden.
Jamie Carragher’s Team of the Season
(4-4-2): Aaron Ramsdale; Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Rudiger, Cancelo; Conor Gallagher, Rice, Bernardo Silva; Salah, Jota, Foden.
Both pundits then opted for goalkeepers as their signings of the season so far. Neville named Wolves’ Jose Sa, while Carragher opted for Ramsdale at Arsenal.
In terms of the title race, the pair agreed on Manchester City, though they had different ideas on the rest of the top four.
Neville selected Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, while Carragher had Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.
Neville explains his choices
Discussing his own team, Neville told Sky Sports: “I just thought Dias, Van Dijk, Rudiger have been absolutely outstanding at their clubs. I wanted to get two midfield players in with Rice and Rodri.
“Rodri has been absolutely incredible this year at City, absolutely amazing. Underrated, underappreciated, someone who does the job week in, week out. The improvement in him is massive.
“The full-backs – it’s unlucky on Robertson at Liverpool but Cancelo and Alexander-Arnold have lit up the league this year from full-back, just absolutely brilliant.”
Carragher queried: “How the hell have you not put Bernardo Silva in your team?” before Neville replied simply with: “I just haven’t.”
The pair also had no hesitation in naming Kevin De Bruyne as a dream signing for both Liverpool and Manchester United.
READ MORE ~ TEAMtalk’s Quiz of the Season: 20 rock-hard questions on every Prem club
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