Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have selected their Premier League teams of the season, with the Sky Sports duo differing on just two players. The pundits appeared on the final Monday Night Football show of the campaign as Arsenal hosted Burnley at the Emirates Stadium, revisiting their pre-season predictions.
After establishing that Neville's crystal ball proved more accurate than Carragher's, attention turned to the Premier League team of the season. Both XIs featured heavily Arsenal and Manchester City stars, reflecting the title race between the two clubs. The pundits agreed on nine players: David Raya, William Saliba, Gabriel, Nico O'Reilly, Declan Rice, Bernardo Silva, Antoine Semenyo, and Erling Haaland. They also both selected Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes after his record-breaking campaign, in which he provided 20 assists.
However, Neville and Carragher differed on a couple of calls. At right-back, Neville opted for Arsenal's Jurrien Timber, while Carragher chose City's Matheus Nunes. On the right wing, Carragher selected Jeremy Doku, while Neville went with Bernardo Silva, and Brentford's Igor Thiago partnered Haaland up front.
Carragher explained his choices: 'I went with Nunes and O'Reilly because at the start of the season, when I saw who Man City had at full-back, I didn't think for one minute they could win trophies or challenge for the title. Nunes is a midfield player but he plays every game, he's consistent, brilliant defensively and really good on the ball. Timber has had a few injuries. Doku has been fantastic.'
Neville justified his selections: 'I was toying between Elliott Anderson in midfield and putting Bernardo Silva somewhere else, he was my last pick. I was unequivocal at right-back. Timber has been injured the last couple of months, but he's the best right-back in the league by a mile. He has it all.'
Elsewhere, Neville named Fernandes his player of the season, while Carragher plumped for Arsenal's Declan Rice. Neville explained: 'I could say Declan Rice, Gabriel, Bernardo Silva, but Bruno getting level with Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry puts him in the very best company in terms of what the Premier League has to offer creativity. I could look a fool in a couple of weeks as Rice and Gabriel could end up with a Premier League title and Champions League double, but Bruno deserves it for playing and persisting in a struggling team for half the season and then excelling in the way he has. Before Christmas, the walls were closing in and it was like the world was ending at Man Utd with what was going on. They were in a desperate situation. They turned it around against Arsenal and City, have beaten Liverpool twice and Chelsea. If you don't play well, you get criticised heavily.'
Carragher countered: 'I'm a huge fan of Bruno Fernandes, but you're picking a player whose games haven't had any real jeopardy. I'd go with Declan Rice. He was outstanding in the Champions League semi-finals against Atletico Madrid. He's been a driving force for Arsenal. He dropped off a little bit around the Man City games and the cup final was because of a little bit of fatigue. They've constantly been playing midweek games because they're in all the competitions. Man Utd went out of both cup competitions; they didn't have Europe, I can't think of many big games that Bruno has been involved in.'
