For the first time since December 2012, Manchester United and Manchester City meet with the Premier League lead at stake.
City got off to a flying start to the campaign, but United have caught up after an early setback against Swansea to get within two points of their noisy neighbours.
Fans of both teams will have strong opinions about whose players are better in every position, and we’ve come up with a combined XI of our own.
Goalkeeper
There’s no real contest here. De Gea is probably worth 10 points a season at least to United, and his influence has already been felt this season. Joe Hart has had some impressive games, but he doesn’t come close to the Spaniard.
Full-backs
This was a close call. There’s so little to choose between City and United in this department that we could easily have selected both the first choice full-backs from either club, but we’ve opted for one from each.
Pablo Zabaleta has probably been the best right-back in the league over the last two or three years, keeping out Matteo Darmian, while Luke Shaw’s strong form before his untimely injury sees him edge out Aleksandar Kolarov.
Centre-backs
Two of this season’s biggest stories so far have been the resurgence of Vincent Kompany and Chris Smalling. After being written off by opposition fans, the pair have been in the form of their life this campaign.
Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi have performed well during Kompany’s time on the sidelines, but Manuel Pellegrini’s side are yet to concede a league goal with the Belgian on the pitch.
Central midfielders
While Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger have had their fair share of good performances for United, they are not on a par with City’s duo of Toure and Fernandinho.
The Ivorian has settled into a deeper role this season as attacking talent has amassed in front of him, offering much more than sometime option Fernando.
Attacking midfielders
Kevin de Bruyne has gone a long way to justifying his club-record fee already, with his winner against Sevilla just the latest highlight, while Silva is arguably better on the ball than any other current Premier League player.
In-form Martial is moved out to the left, as he was in United’s win over Everton, in order to accommodate the team’s figurehead…
Striker
Sorry Wayne, you’re not on a par with Sergio Aguero and it isn’t even close.
There might be a case for the England record-breaker when it comes to producing an all-time combined United and City Premier League XI, but Aguero was the first name on this particular teamsheet.
