Fernandinho In At Centre Back And No Salah: Sky Sports Pundit Picks His Combined City/Liverpool Starting XI

Fernandinho In At Centre Back And No Salah: Sky Sports Pundit Picks His Combined City/Liverpool Starting XI

Former Manchester City striker Darius Vassell was asked by Sky Sports to pick his combined eleven ahead of Pep Guardiola side’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday.

The pundit went for five City players and six Reds in his team, in what is a very attacking line up that includes Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. There is, though, no room for Mo Salah:

Probably Vassell’s most surprising choice is Fernandinho at centre-half but when you consider who is available for the clash, and the respective defensive records, it isn’t a bad shout.

City have conceded just one more goal than Liverpool in the Premier League this campaign, despite their issues at centre-half, and with Dejan Lovren expected to line up alongside Virgil van Dijk for Liverpool, I think most fans would go with Fernandinho instead.

Salah’s exclusion isn’t at all surprising either. Sterling and Mane are the in-form forwards in the Premier League so the Egyptian deservedly misses out.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.