Ahead of the highly-anticipated showdown between Liverpool and Man City on Sunday, pundit Robbie Savage has picked his combined XI.
The two sides have been equally as impressive so far this season, both picking up 19 points from their opening seven Premier League games to lead the way at the top of the table.
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With 36 goals scored and just six goals conceded between them, it promises to be an enthralling encounter at Anfield on Sunday evening, one that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola will be desperate to win.
There’s no denying that both managers have an incredible amount of quality at their disposal, but Savage evidently rates that of the champions more highly based on his combined XI below.
Just two Liverpool players make it into the line-up, while Guardiola is chosen over Klopp as manager.
Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah ensure that it isn’t an entire City affair, and while those are obvious choices, the decision to pick Benjamin Mendy over Andy Robertson could be seen as rather bizarre by many given the injury struggles that the former has had while the latter has been exceptional.
Ederson gets the nods ahead of Alisson despite being forced to play second fiddle to his compatriot for Brazil, while there’s no space for the likes of Sadio Mane or Roberto Firmino either.
Savage has seemingly taken the easy route by picking Kevin De Bruyne despite the fact that he’s only just returning to fitness to potentially feature, but based on the comments below, it doesn’t appear as though many Liverpool fans have been left too impressed with him.
They may well have a point. And it was reflected in the comments section too where one fan described his XI as “utter nonsense”, while another added: “Must be a City fan. Mendy played about twice in 2 years a definite easy Robertson.”
Savage’s combined XI: Ederson; Walker, Kompany, Van Dijk, Mendy; Fernandinho, De Bruyne; Salah, David Silva, Sane; Aguero.
Manager: Guardiola (via The Mirror.)
Are you pissed? Robertson over Mendy! and Salah over Sane surely?
— Cuddy (@ben_cudworth) October 6, 2018
On current form I’d pick Gomez over kompany.
— matthew (@megadethmath) October 6, 2018
“Based on current form and KDB returning to training this week” ?
— Anthony Davies (@Anthony81davies) October 6, 2018
Mendy over Robertson ??
— Matthew Warburton (@Warbie_118) October 6, 2018
The worst pundit on British tv
— the minsteral (@treat1969) October 6, 2018