Games in the Premier League do not come much bigger than Manchester United vs. Manchester City.
With all due respect to Arsenal vs. Chelsea, Sunday’s Manchester derby is perhaps the biggest showpiece fixture of the Premier League season so far.
The 199th competitive meeting between these sides sees significant questions hang over both teams, even if their results on the field have been fairly contrasting.
Manchester United have taken just four points from their opening three league games, with Thursday’s comfortable win over Sabah FK in the Champions League helping to ease the pain of a last-gasp draw at Everton last weekend.
City, meanwhile, have recovered from a chastening Community Shield defeat to win all four of their subsequent competitive fixtures, including Tuesday’s trip to Porto.
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But how many players does that earn them in a combined XI of the two teams? ESPN takes a look.
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma
The big Italian has not had the most confident of starts to this season — particularly with his feet, so much so that manager Enzo Maresca warned his players against giving him unnecessary backpasses after the win over Porto.
But Donnarumma remains one of the best in the world between the sticks and his impressive reflex saves have already saved City on a number of occasions, not least against Coventry last weekend when he denied Jack Rudoni, Loum Tchaouna and Ellis Simms in a narrow 1-0 win.
Right back: Abdukodir Khusanov
The Uzbek defender has come a long way from his difficult City debut in January last year, so much so that he is now the only signing from that busy window who is still getting regular games for the club.
The 22-year-old signed a new contract in July and has developed into a dependable — and absolutely rapid — defender, even displacing Matheus Nunes in Maresca’s plans for the position.
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Centre back: Marc Guéhi
The City and England man is, quite simply, the best centre back across both squads and one of the best in the Premier League. It speaks volumes that, after just half a season at the club, he has already been named as part of the club’s captaincy group alongside defensive partner Rúben Dias, Donnarumma and Erling Haaland.
His excellent positioning and anticipation, alongside his apparent leadership skills, would make him a decent shout to captain this combined XI.
Centre back: Lisandro Martínez
The first inclusion from the red side of Manchester, Martínez has not had it easy since he arrived at the club in 2022. The Argentinian has struggled with injuries throughout his career in England, most notably when he tore his ACL in February 2025.
Now 28, Martínez has returned impressively to demonstrate his best form in a United shirt, as well as having an excellent World Cup for his nation. Let’s just not think too much about how a Guehi-Martínez pairing would fare against some of the league’s taller strikers in the real world…
Left back: Nico O’Reilly
The City academy graduate has been an absolute revelation since making his senior debut in 2024 and properly breaking into the first team the following year. A midfielder by trade, O’Reilly has shown defensive nous, combined with an ability to find pockets of space going forward.
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Still only 21, he has also demonstrated that he can be the man for the big occasion, with a pair of braces last season in a 2-1 win over Newcastle in the Premier League and the 2-0 victory over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final. Josko Gvardiol can perhaps feel hard done by, but O’Reilly has to start.
Central midfield: Elliot Anderson
Eyebrows were raised when Anderson joined this summer for £116 million ($154m), but the 23-year-old already looks like a seasoned member of the City first team. The England man has a knack for controlling the tempo of the game, a skill that was on display on Saturday as he completed the most passes by an English player in a single Premier League game since Opta began collecting the data in 2003-04.
He was named Player of the Match in that game, and he would likely win the award a fair few times for this combined XI, too.
Central midfield: Enzo Fernández
Anderson would be particularly useful given the profile of the man who would start alongside him: Fernández. If his debut against Coventry is anything to go by, Maresca will be giving the 25-year-old plenty of license to make runs into the box — and this combined XI would look to do the same.
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The Premier League record-equalling fee that City paid to sign him from Chelsea on deadline day has also been questioned, but the Argentinian has that rare knack for just being in the right place at the right time. He could score 10 Premier League goals a season from midfield in this team.
Attacking midfield: Bruno Fernandes
Speaking of arriving in the right place at the right time, Enzo’s namesake (sort of!) is perhaps the Premier League’s best. The United captain had his best ever season in 2025-26 and looks set to continue where he left off this time around, having already scored four goals and provided one assist in four matches this season.
The Portuguese midfielder broke the Premier League assist record last season — just imagine what he could do with this attack!
Right wing: Rayan Cherki
Cherki may not be too happy to see himself shunted out to the wing to accommodate Fernandes, but the Frenchman is too good to leave out of this team. He proved the bargain of the summer last season, scoring 10 and assisting 15 after arriving for just £31.5m ($42m).
He’s not slowing down, either — he already has four goal involvements in just three Premier League games, tying him for first alongside Fernandes, João Pedro and Cody Gakpo.
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Left wing: Antoine Semenyo
The former Bournemouth man got a goal and an assist on his City debut, and has not really slowed down since. Direct, skilful, creative, strong, quick — he pretty much has it all and the thought of him combining with Fernandes would be enough to worry any opposition.
His and Cherki’s adeptness with either foot would also allow them to swap flanks with relative ease.
Striker: Erling Haaland
I mean, obviously. What more is there to say about Erling Haaland? The Norwegian has 167 goals in 203 games for City, and has already picked up where he left off with five goals in five competitive games so far this season.
You think he’s going to score on Sunday, I think he’s going to score on Sunday and there’s a decent chance Michael Carrick thinks so too. Plus, I quite like his new hair.
