As a big fan of the English Premier League, I follow many fans of English teams on Twitter. My entire Twitter timeline is filled with combined II for the North-London derby. This put me to thinking about how my North-London derby combined II looks like. I decided to share this team with you.
North-London derby combined II
For this team I go for a 4-2-3-1 formation, since both teams like to play in this formation. I have to say it was really hard to form this team, since there is a lot of quality in both teams at the moment.
Goalkeeper
This is immediately a tough choice. Emery replaced Cech in the Arsenal goal with Bernd Leno and this has proven to be a good decision for Arsenal. The German goalkeeper looks very comfortable and keeps making good saves. On the other side we’ve got the experienced Hugo Lloris. He is slightly ahead of Leno at the moment due to his experience, but if Leno continue to play like this, it won’t take long for he’s t he better of the two. For now I go for Lloris.
Fullbacks
We start on the right side of the pitch. There are basically four options available for this position. Serge Aurier and Kieran Trippier, are Tottenham’s right fullback, Hector Bellerin and Stephan Lichtsteiner play this position for Arsenal. Two of them haven’t shown enough this season to be really part of this election, so the battle is between Bellerin and Trippier. The Spanish RB of Arsenal really stepped up this season, but I think Trippier is still the better option of these two, when both fit. So for now I take Trippier as the right fullback in this combined eleven. On this other side it’s also a matter of players not being fit. But if fit, Nacho Monreal showed he’s become a very important player for Arsenal and this makes him my left fullback.
Centre-backs
This choice has been very easy over the last few years. Tottenham’s Belgium centre-back pairing has been one of the best pairing over the last couple of years. Arsenal has struggled on this position for years, but it looks like Emery find himself the right combination. For me Sokratis and Rob Holding are really stepping up for Arsenal at the back this season. However, both Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen are still ahead of these guys and will form my centre-back pairing in this eleven.
Defensive midfielders
This is probably the easiest position in this combined 11. Looking at both teams, I can only think of two players for these position. Lucas Torreira is the first player in here. The Uruguayan international looks to be a real bargain for Arsenal. He brings everything Arsenal lacked for years. Eric Dier is going to be his midfield partner in this team. I don’t rate the likes of Xhaka and Sissoko at all, so Dier deserves his spot in this team.
Front three
There are two players, who on their day should be in this line of three. Christian Eriksen and Mesut Ozil are both players who can be world-class. Unfortunately Ozil isn’t always showing it, but still, I can’t let him out of this team. The third player in this will play on the left hand side of the pitch. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is going to be that player for me. He’s topscorer in the Premier League, but since I’ve selected another striker in this team, I need Auba on the left.
Striker
This has to be Harry Kane. He’s still one of the best strikers in the world of football. Kane scored an amazing goal against Chelsea and he’s even making me want to put him back in my Fantasy Premier League team. So no doubt Harry Kane is the striker in this team.
Give me your North-London derby combined II in the comments below.