Liverpool v Manchester United: Combined XI

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Liverpool v Manchester United: Romelu Lukaku of Manchester United celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal with his team mates. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) /

Liverpool v Manchester United is one of the biggest games on the Premier League calendar. We have put together a combined starting XI of the two rivals.

They are the two biggest clubs in English football history. The most successful and most popular. Liverpool and Manchester United face up this week in a Premier League showdown. Liverpool are struggling after having only one win in the last seven games. Manchester United, on the other hand, are flying. They have not lost a game this season and have won all but a draw with Stoke.

But as the cliché goes, the form book goes out of the window on games like this. The bookies agree, remarkably making Liverpool narrow favorites to win the tie.

There is much debate (ie. raging argument) between the two fanbases over who has the better players. We have put together a combined XI to settle the discussion. A few notes before we begin. We have settled on a 4-3-3 formation that best suit both teams. Liverpool play this way every game and it is often used by Jose Mourinho too.

We are also only picking players who are available for this match. That means Paul Pogba and Sadio Mane are not in consideration even though both would certainly make the XI. Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne would also be in contention.

Here goes… Our combined Liverpool and Manchester United XI:

(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /

Goalkeeper: David de Gea

Do I need to explain this? No I don’t. Simon Mignolet is not as bad as many make out. When it comes to penalties his one of the all time best. But that is where we can stop considering the Belgian for this combined eleven.

David de Gea is perhaps the best goalkeeper in the world. Manuel Neuer has a case. Courtois used to but has fallen behind. Jan Oblak is the latest pretender. Yet it is the Spaniard who rules the goalkeeping roost.

It is incredible that United have kept him out of Real Madrid’s clutches for so long. He is as talented and dependable as you could ever want a keeper to be. He has kept United from total humiliation (rather than just regular old embarrassment) the last few years. A more than worthy entry into this list.

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