Arsenal host Manchester City on Wednesday night in a colossal Premier League match which should have huge implications on the title race.
Picking a combined XI of the two sides was tough, especially considering how difficult it is to determine what City’s strongest team is and how often Pep Guardiola chops and changes. Here it is nonetheless…
Goalkeeper: Ederson (Manchester City)
Aaron Ramsdale is having a superb season for Arsenal and has come on leaps and bounds since his Sheffield United days. Having said that, Ederson has been doing what Ramsdale is doing for several years, and at a higher level. This one is a no-brainer.
Right-back: Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
The debate between Kyle Walker and Benjamin White is a good one. Walker is still ahead of White in the England pecking order and is having a solid season for City, though the latter has been excellent for Arsenal this term despite a slight dip in form in recent weeks.
While White has arguably been the best right-back in the Premier League this season along with Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier, there is no doubting Walker’s class and consistency. I reluctantly give the 32-year-old the nod.
Centre-back: Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
City have five superb central defenders in Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake – who scored the only goal when these two sides met in the FA Cup last month. However, I believe Dias is the best of the lot, even if he is the random player whose name Pep Guardiola picked out of a hat and decided to drop for 2022-23.
Dias joined the Citizens from Benfica in 2020 and won the FWA Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season in his debut campaign. The Portuguese defender has only played 14 times in the top flight this term and started his first league match since October on Sunday against Aston Villa.
Centre-back: Gabriel (Arsenal)
Going into this season I was adamant William Saliba is a better player than Gabriel and I was proven right pretty quickly. And pretty quickly after thinking I was right, I was proven wrong. The Brazilian has been a monster this season and is one of Mikel Arteta’s biggest success stories at Arsenal.
Left-back: Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal)
It feels a bit strange including Oleksandr Zinchenko in this side given City sold him to Arsenal due to a lack of playing time. Joao Cancelo’s January exit to Bayern Munich made this a pretty simple one, however. Ake has filled…
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