Jamie Carragher apologised to Chelsea fans after leaving one of their stars out of his Premier League team of the season so far – for a bitter rival.
Carragher named his most impressive XI of the campaign on Monday Night Football and there was no room for sentiment as he included no Liverpool players.
And the Reds legend made the brutal decision to leave Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo out of his team despite his stellar campaign so far.
‘I apologise to Chelsea fans,’ he said. ‘Declan Rice just has the edge on Caicedo.’
Carragher’s midfield was composed of Rice from Arsenal, Granit Xhaka of Sunderland, and Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.
He explained that he wanted to have a more attacking midfielder among the trio but indicated that if he had not included Fernandes, Caicedo would have been a shoe-in.
Sunderland’s Robin Roefs was nominated as his goalkeeper of the season so far. He has prevented the most goals in the league – 2.8. ‘I’ve been really impressed with him,’ Carragher said. ‘He’s had a brilliant start to his Premier League career.’
The backline was split between Crystal Palace and Arsenal.
Palace’s Daniel Munoz came in at right-back alongside Marc Guehi, while Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori earned a place on the left next to Gabriel Magalhaes.
Gabriel is in the final stages of recovering from a hamstring injury and Carragher noted how he has been a ‘huge miss’ for the Gunners.
As aforementioned, the midfield was made up of RIce, Fernandes, and Xhaka.
‘[Xhaka] has had the biggest impact of any signing,’ Carragher said. He’s so important.
‘I had to put Fernandes in. He’s still created the most chances.’
Carragher’s front three were Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo on the right flank, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers on the left, and, to little surprise, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland up top.
On the left side, Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden came close, but Carragher described Rogers as ‘the most in-form player in the Premier League’.
He also proposed Haaland and Rice as the stand-out contenders for player of the season, with Rogers ‘on their coat-tails’.
