Picking combined Manchester City-Arsenal XIs: Who plays in goal? Saliba vs Guehi? Is Cherki a shoo-in?

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Who to pick out of David Raya and Gianluigi Donnarumma? Who starts in the heart of defence? And is there any legitimate alternative to Erling Haaland up top? Here, seven writers from The Athletic risk the ire of fans of both teams as they bravely select their combined Manchester City-Arsenal XIs. Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma I would have both Donnarumma and David Raya if I could. Arsenal’s No 1 is clearly amazing and much better with his feet, but in a title decider, we want someone who defends between the posts like one of those pneumatically-powered robots you see on Japanese game shows. One of the best defenders in the Premier League. An absolutely superb footballer. The best defender in the Premier League. A cannonball in the opposition box who keeps it simple at the back and exists on the edge of the frightening/crazy matrix. Confusing and intimidating opponents is essential. Arsenal’s William Saliba is better technically but composure, courage and leadership are vital in big games. When the pressure’s on, players like Dias get everyone else through. It’s not luck that he’s won so many trophies. A rare 6ft 3in box-crashing attacker with the technical skill of a Manchester City interior midfielder, who is also excellent in wide areas and does all these things at once. Hasn’t looked quite himself since returning from injury — but since returning from injury, his side have looked more like themselves. Reliable under any form of pressure, always finds the pass, controls the game. Central midfield: Bernardo Silva No player has ever made more appearances for Pep Guardiola. Always free to receive, dribbles out of impossible situations, finds team-mates with wonder-vision, and — crucially — deceptively good at kicking, winding up and disrupting people. Has won 19 titles. One of the most entertaining players on earth, turned into one of the best in the Premier League by Guardiola’s coaching — particularly the focus on his out-of-possession work. Arsenal have some great midfielders but none break lines as often, pass forward almost every time or surprise more. Has scored 15 Premier League goals this season. Bukayo Saka has six. Accelerates like a remote-control toy car but has power, too. And tricks. And also looks full of energy. Doesn’t need much (or any) of the ball to completely alter a game, but does seem to be a little less potent since Semenyo joined. (Additional point: if the game were to be played entirely from corners, I’d swap in Saka, Declan Rice and Raya.) Donnarumma is an outstanding shot-stopper but Raya is the better all-rounder. His ability with his feet is far superior. Arguably the best defensive full-back in the league. I’m going for a more attack-minded left-back, so Timber brings balance. Composure personified. Honourable mention to Marc Guehi, who has made a tremendous difference to City since arriving in January. Arsenal’s centre-halves come as a pair. Gabriel’s power in both boxes makes him an automatic pick. He’s the man of the moment. O’Reilly has so many exciting attributes and looks a very complete player. The 29-year-old is ahead of Martin Zubimendi with the Spanish national team, and he is for me too. Arsenal’s all-action superstar. With Rice alongside Rodri, not much is getting through this midfield. In any other season, Bukayo Saka would be an automatic pick on this flank. Hhis 2025-26 campaign hasn’t quite got going, though, so I’d go with the impressive form of Semenyo. Attacking midfield: Rayan Cherki A joy to watch (except when he’s tormenting your team). Imagination, audacious skill and entertainment value. Mikel Arteta seems reluctant to pick Eberechi Eze on the left — but I won’t let that stop me. The idea of him combining with O’Reilly is very exciting. Not a difficult pick. The best pure No 9 in the Premier League is one of the first names on this team sheet. Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma A tough decision but if you’re weighting what Arsenal and Manchester City’s goalkeepers do with their hands rather than their feet, which I am, then it’s the Italian. He can do the basics just fine most of the time. He’s an imposing figure and makes big saves in big moments. Raya is largely solid but doesn’t produce as many blockbuster moments. A beast of a player. Built like a cruiserweight, reliable in all situations, intelligent on and off the ball. Doesn’t really have a weakness. If he was allowed off the leash a bit more to show the dribbling ability he showcased at Ajax, he could add some pizzazz to a bland team. The toughest call of the lot. William Saliba has been tremendous but, judging the players as they are now, Marc Guehi pips him. Saliba is a cool customer but he can make mistakes in a way that Guehi doesn’t. He reads the game brilliantly, is rarely ever caught out of position, and goes under the radar. No fuss. Dominant in both boxes. He manhandles strikers like they’re kids and his goals have been crucial for Arsenal in recent years. Panics too often on the ball but we’ll let that slide. His development into a marauding full-back has been incredible. Riccardo Calafiori is a similarly fun player but is injury-prone, Piero Hincapie doesn’t have the creativity and Lewis-Skelly can’t match his athleticism. Good for a goal, too. Not quite back to his peak but still one of the best playmakers around. Always looks like he has more time than anyone else. Always plays the right pass at the right time. Zubimendi is not in his league. An athletic freak who often looks like he’s trying to drag the rest of his team through games. Underrated technically but he’s an elite ball-winner and breaks brilliantly over large areas. Bernardo Silva is a Premier League great who is important to City’s balance, but Rice has to be there. A game-changing signing for City who is delivering the numbers Arsenal lack from wide areas. He’s not the cleanest technically at times but he is ahead of Saka who, while has always been fairly efficient in his style, cannot match his variety or two-footed finishing. Attacking midfield: Rayan Cherki The magician who captures the stylistic difference between the two teams. He plays off the cuff and has the imagination to cut open any defence. The most terrifying dribbler in world football. Full-backs are petrified. Still needs to improve his end product but he can cut through teams in a way Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Eze can’t. It’s not even a question. Kai Havertz is a skilled link-up player and brings out the best in others, but if there is one man you want up top in world football, it’s probably Haaland. A machine. Yes, Donnarumma is an elite No 1, but I don’t think he has been brilliant for City and someone of his size should dominate his six-yard area more effectively. Raya gets the nod as the best goalkeeper in the league. Again, the best player in his position in England’s top division. Apart from naming Erling Haaland in attack, Timber’s inclusion is probably the easiest pick. With apologies to Saliba. A fully fit John Stones would usually be in contention, too. Unfortunately for Stones, he’s no longer the player he was and Guehi has fitted in seamlessly since his move from Crystal Palace. The Brazilian gets the nod because of his ability to pop up with decisive goals as well as his thou-shall-not-pass attitude in defence. The irony is that he doesn’t like playing as a left-back. He does it very well, though, and his ability to weigh in with a decent number of goals demonstrates why he sees himself more as a No 10. Another automatic pick. As Guardiola says, the best holding midfielder in the world, brilliant at breaking up opposition attacks and just as adept when it comes to instigating his own side’s forward movements. Some critics feel he could be doing better. A few more goals, perhaps? It’s a valid point but he’s still an immensely important player for Arsenal. A tough choice because this would be the position, if they were in better form, where it would be a straight choice between Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka. Instead, I’m going for the little magician with the ball on a piece of string, wearing a City shirt that always seems a size or two too big for him. Attacking midfield: Antoine Semenyo The player of the season, in my eyes, if you consider the number of goals he has scored for City and, before that, Bournemouth. And he can do as many keepy-uppies as he likes. Honorary mention to Eze, but Cherki is the kind of player who can make you quicken your walk en route to the ground. OK, he has been a bit hot and cold since the turn of the year, but still the best scorer in the business. Anyone care to disagree? I think Gianluigi Donnarumma is the best shot-stopper in the Premier League but David Raya isn’t far behind. For me, though, Raya is comfortably better with his feet and is the more complete goalkeeper. It’s no surprise that Arsenal’s recent bad run has come as Timber has been out injured. Defensively imperious, technically sound and a threat at set pieces, he is arguably the best right-back in the world at the minute, let alone out of these two teams. Composed on the ball and excellent in one-v-one duels. He also has a track record of stepping up against big opponents like Haaland. For me, the best centre-back in the Premier League this season and if Arsenal win it, then he is a decent shout for player of the season. The Brazilian is dominant in the air and is better on the ball than people give him credit for. A player who, due to his struggles with fitness, remains criminally underrated. A fully-fit Calafiori is mesmerising. Will he pop up at centre-forward? Will he pop on the right wing? No one knows and that makes him a nightmare for opposition teams. Central midfield: Nico O’Reilly A lot of his football has come at left-back but O’Reilly has also been excellent when he’s played in central midfield this season. If City go on to win the league, you could make a strong case that he has been the decisive factor. I think if Manchester City had Rice in their team, they would be clear in this title race. He is a cheat code when it comes to the opposition transitions that have made City look vulnerable at times. I know most of his football has come in the middle this year but I simply couldn’t leave him out. Filling the void left behind by Bernardo will be one of the biggest challenges City have faced in years. He is bowing out on a high with yet another excellent season at the Etihad. Attacking midfield: Rayan Cherki It’s taken him a little while to get going at City but he is clicking at just the right time. The joker in the pack who has the individual quality to turn the game on Sunday. A bit like with Silva, much of Semenyo’s time at City has been in a different position to where I’ve picked him but the Ghanaian can play both left and right to an equally excellent level. The way he has taken to life at City has helped turbo-charge their title tilt. Probably the easiest pick on this list. Manchester City have world-class talent in their No 9 position. Arsenal don’t. If it was the other way around, maybe this title race would have been wrapped up a long time ago. One of the closer calls of the XI is between him and Donnarumma. Raya has had some sensational saves and games for Arsenal this season, proving he’s one of the world’s best. Sometimes, with full-backs, you have to choose between a good defender and someone confident going forward. Timber is one of the most balanced in his position of the two. Can win a header against anyone and many would call him the league’s best centre-back this year. The Gabriel and Saliba partnership has anchored the best defence in the league, and Saliba is the more technically skilled. This inverting full-back/box-crasher is having a breakout season, with teams proving incapable of stopping him from getting on the end of crosses in recent weeks. We saw how exposed City’s midfield looked without him. He might not be in Ballon d’Or-winning form since his ruptured ACL, but he’s one of the team’s most important players. The might in midfield Arsenal lacked for some years, and one of the best set-piece takers for a team prolific from them. Given Saka’s injury-riddled season, Semenyo has to be in for his clinical nature. His ability has made the step up to City look seamless. Attacking midfield: Rayan Cherki Someone who plays in opposition to the caution with which Arsenal attack at times. Whether it’s corner fakes or ball-juggling, he plays like he’s down the park. His game against Liverpool in November stands out in my mind. Scored a beauty and showed how much attention he draws at his best. Scoring goals at a record rate in the Premier League. Powerful, instinctive and inevitable. Splitting hairs between two of the three best goalkeepers in the Premier League, alongside Alisson. While I’d probably back Donnarumma to make a big-time save over Raya, the Spaniard’s ability with his feet is what sets him apart, in my opinion. Truly a fantastic, pure footballer who seemingly has the capacity to play in any position on the pitch. He’s also an incredibly consistent defender who plays an unassuming but crucial role in Arsenal’s threat from set pieces. They missed him in the defeat to Bournemouth, and Arteta will surely hope he recovers from an ankle injury in time for Sunday. A world-class defender who pips Guehi due to his experience at the top level. A difference-maker in both boxes, particularly from set pieces, and a player of the season candidate. He’s taken a big leap this season, emerging from a promising talent to a key player under Guardiola. He’s a big game player, too, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have a decisive impact on Sunday. Central midfield: Martin Zubimendi At his best, Rodri is probably the best defensive midfielder I have ever seen — but he has not looked the same player after a lengthy and complicated rehabilitation from the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus tear to his right knee. Zubimendi has held the fort for Spain in the meantime and has been excellent for Arsenal this term, even if his form has slightly dipped recently, so he pips his countryman at the moment, for me. A no-brainer. Possibly the best all-action central midfielder in the world, though Federico Valverde may have something to say about that. When fit and in form, I believe Bukayo Saka is the best right winger in the league, but he’s not been at his best recently and will miss out on Sunday with an ongoing achilles issue. So, I’ll go with Bernardo — a Manchester City and Premier League legend who can help decide another title race before he departs from the Etihad Stadium this summer. Attacking midfield: Rayan Cherki Cherki is a magician who arrived at precisely the right time for the Premier League, which seemed to be running low on individual sparkle. But it’s not just dazzling flicks and tricks with the Frenchman; his performance against Chelsea last week demonstrated that he can be decisive in big games. In 2018, Semenyo was playing on loan for Bath City in the sixth tier after almost giving up on the sport following unsuccessful trials at several London clubs. Now he’s playing for the Premier League title and will star for Ghana at the World Cup in the summer — a remarkable story of hard work, confidence and talent, all of which he has in spades. The best striker in the Premier League, and one of the best in the world. When he’s at his best, he is probably the most destructive force the league has ever seen. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms