Current Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have named their Premier League team of the season at the halfway stage of the season. As Chelsea’s magnificent run of wins – 11 games on the trot now – continues, a number of the London club’s players understandably feature heavily in the list.
The two ex-defenders, Neville and Carragher, who represented Manchester United and Liverpool respectively, definitely know what they’re talking about, and are two of the most reputed pundits currently.
Prior to last night’s Merseyside derby, the two Sky Sports pundits named their team of the season.
Here is Gary Neville’s team
The former Manchester United defender picked Belgian Thibaut Courtois in goal while Chelsea defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz, who have been instrumental in the Blues’ great defensive displays, make the cut at the back, and they are joined by Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk and Danny Rose of Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool is represented by Adam Lallana, who has performed admirably at Liverpool while Manchester City’s Fernandinho made the cut as well. Blues winger Eden Hazard has been in top form this season, while his new team-mate N’Golo Kante, who has quickly become a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge, make up the midfield.
Up front, Neville picked Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has delivered for United despite many sceptics doubting his ability, given his age, while Premier League top scorer Diego Costa is the obvious choice for filling up the remaining spot.
Carragher’s XI bore a similar resemblance to Neville’s
Carragher went for Sunderland's Jordan Pickford in goal, who has exceeded expectations and is on the verge of an England call up in the future.
He seems to concur with his fellow pundit when it comes to all the slots at the back, except at left back, where he has chosen Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand.
In midfield, the former Liverpool man picked Manchester City’s Kevin de Bryune, who leads City’s assist charts ahead of Fernandinho, while up front, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez gets the nod instead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Additionally, the duo also picked their best player and manager of the season so far, and unanimously agreed that Antonio Conte has been the manager of the season thus far for his role in Chelsea’s remarkable turnaround from last season and rise to the top of the league. They also picked Diego Costa as their best player in the Premier League up until now.
Speaking about Costa, Carragher said, “I've gone for Costa, I think he's been outstanding,” Carragher said. “He's top goalscorer in the league and I think he makes a massive difference, when he's on song you think he's really going to take some stopping.”
While Neville heaped praise on Blues boss Antonio Conte and said, “If you think about the imprint of managers on teams, Conte has this team drilled as a replica of his Juventus team in three/four months and that's tough to do.
“He has had the blessing of not being in Europe and he has the training ground time with the team day-in day-out, you can see the shape they're working on is just there all the time.”
Neville went on to pick David Luiz as the best newcomer this season, following his transfer from PSG in the summer, while Carragher opted for Southampton boss Claude Puel.
In the players to watch for the second half of the season, Neville picked City's Leroy Sane and Carragher went for United’s Paul Pogba.
“I was critical of him (Pogba) early on in the season but I think now they've found the right fit for him. He's starting to look the real deal,” said Carragher.
