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Manchester City and Manchester United combined XI ahead of Premier League derby

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We have created a combined XI of Manchester City and Manchester United players ahead of their clash live on Sky Sports, on Thursday.

City boss Pep Guardiola looks set to face his first season without winning a trophy as a manager after being dumped out of the FA Cup by Arsenal last week.

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Meanwhile, United have won the EFL Cup, reached the Europa League semi-finals and are undefeated in 22 Premier League games but remain one point behind their Manchester rivals in fifth.

Our combined XI includes six City players and five from United, based on the Sky Sports Power Rankings season chart.

Check out the graphic below and let us know whether you agree by tweeting @SkyFootball.

MANCHESTER XI

GOALKEEPER/DEFENCE

Manchester United's David de Gea gets the nod between the sticks, having kept a joint league-high 13 clean sheets from 31 games and conceded only 24 goals.

David De Gea of Manchester United looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford
Image: Manchester United's David De Gea has more than twice the number of Power Ranking points as City's Claudio Bravo

The Spaniard has accumulated more than 40,000 Power Ranking points this season - more than twice the number than those of City stoppers Claudio Bravo and Willy Caballero.

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United's Daley Blind partners City's Nicolas Otamendi in the centre of a back four with Antonio Valencia and Aleksandar Kolarov claiming the full-back positions.

MIDFIELD

The Power Rankings methodology favours attacking midfielders, which means Ander Herrera only just misses a starting place.

Manchester City's English midfielder Raheem Sterling (R) celebrates with Manchester City's Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne after scoring the opening goa
Image: Manchester City's Raheem Sterling (right) and Kevin De Bruyne make the combined XI

As a result, Paul Pogba, who is a doubt for Thursday's derby with a muscle injury, is United's only representative alongside City playmaker David Silva with Kevin De Bruyne occupying the left flank and Raheem Sterling on the right.

FORWARD

No surprises up front with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is likely to miss the rest of the season with knee ligament damage, and Sergio Aguero leading the line of our combined Manchester XI.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates scoring the opening goal in the EFL Cup final
Image: Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes the combined XI

Both strikers have scored 17 Premier League goals this term, although Ibrahimovic has started six more games than the Argentina international to date.

Watch Manchester City v Manchester United live on Sky Sports 1 from 7pm on Thursday

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