GARY NEVILLE and Jamie Carragher have named their respective teams of the season – and both made some shocking choices.
The Premier League title race will come to an end on Sunday when we find out whether it will be Arsenal or reigning champions Manchester City who will be celebrating.
This year has seen a number of last summer’s big transfer signings shine, while it has been a huge disappointment for others.
The Sky Sports duo watched almost every shot from the top flight and on Monday Night Football revealed what they considered to be the best Premier League XI of the campaign.
The two legends agreed on seven players – and no member of the Manchester United squad was selected.
That wasn’t surprising, however, but the absence of Man City’s Erling Haaland in one of their attacks raised some eyebrows.
The former Man Utd right-back and Liverpool defender opted for Arsenal defensive duo William Saliba and Gabriel to be at the heart of his defense due to the Gunners having the best defense in the league.
Their midfields were then captained by Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, with Man City’s Declan Rice and Rodri alongside him.
Rodri’s Cityzens teammate Phil Foden, named Footballer of the Year, and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who has scored 21 Prem goals since arriving for £42.5m last summer, were in every attack.
It was then Neville who first revealed the rest of his line-up – which he had selected in a 4-3-3 formation.
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Aston Villa’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who almost helped them secure a top four place, was between the sticks, while Arsenal’s Ben White and Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie came in at full-back.
That left Odegaard, Rice and Rodri to form the midfield trio with Palmer, Foden joined in attack by City striker Haaland, who has scored 25 goals in 29 Prem appearances and looks set to win another Golden Boot.
But after some minor injury problems this season, the Norwegian goal machine has not been suitable for Carragher.
He chose a 3-2-4-1 formation and caused a slight shock by naming England number one Jordan Pickford as goalkeeper following his performances for Everton, who went 13 games without a win.
Arsenal’s David Raya also won the Premier League’s ‘Golden Glove’ award.
His back three had Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk alongside the Gunners duo, with Rodri sitting up front, protecting them along with Rice.
Palmer and Foden were then eliminated by Odegaard and Kevin De Bruyne – another shock inclusion.
The Belgian playmaker has been absent for much of the season through injury and is restricted to just 23 Prem appearances.
But he still scored six goals and 16 assists in all competitions and that was enough for Carragher, although it sparked some outrage on social media, with one fan responding: “De Bruyne is a horrible scream. He barely played and it wasn’t spectacular when he did.”
Carra also chose Villa’s Ollie Watkins in attack over Haaland, with the Englishman scoring 19 Prem goals and 13 assists.
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He said Haaland’s contribution to City’s campaign was ‘disappointing’ as he explained: “Well, the reason I would pick Ollie Watkins, I think his numbers, there’s not much difference in the numbers when you put the goals and the assists. He is playing for Aston Villa. He is playing for Manchester City.
“And actually, when I think about Erling Haaland this season, listen, we know he’s the best striker, you know, we understand that. But this season, actually, I think in the most important games I was a little disappointed in Haaland.
“Maybe even a sort of Champions League against Real Madrid, the games against Arsenal, Liverpool too, when he faces the real elite defenders. I think the elite defenders got the better of them,” Carragher said.”
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Neville defended Haaland, saying: “You know what you only realize when you have these players, this is a special player. One of the greatest in the world is the goal.
“His numbers will dominate world football for the next five, six, seven years, in my opinion. And it simply has to be there. You might think about giving someone else a chance, and that would be the emotional and compassionate way to look at it.
“But every center forward, every club in the league, if you could name a center forward, and they could pick one, they would name him.”
Neville then poked fun at some of Carragher’s other choices, adding: “He doesn’t believe what he’s saying. He doesn’t even believe it.
“This year, I can honestly this year, he doesn’t even believe in his own team. He created a system that doesn’t exist.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
