The Fantasy Football Club: West Brom defender Joleon Lescott picks #One2Eleven

West Brom and England defender Joleon Lescott picked his #One2Eleven on The Fantasy Football Club.

The 32-year-old is a two-time Premier League winner with former club Manchester City and also lifted the FA Cup and the League Cup with the Citizens.

He has played and trained alongside some of the best players to grace the Premier League in recent years and says the toughest positions to pick were his goalkeeper and his left-back...

GOALKEEPER - JOE HART

JOLEON SAYS: He is very confident in his ability but that comes from his hard work. People underestimate how hard he works off the field and how dedicated he is. He is good to have around, he is quite bubbly and a good person to be on a night out with!

RIGHT-BACK -  MICAH RICHARDS

JOLEON SAYS: I’ve seen him do things at right-back that not many players can do. Injuries have probably held him back more than anything and if he was fit for a longer period of time - no disrespect to anyone else - he would be England’s no.2 and have a lot more caps and have played a lot more games for City.

LEFT-BACK - ASHLEY COLE

JOLEON SAYS: This was the hardest choice but I had to go with Ash. The levels he has hit throughout his career are ridiculous. He's the best English left-back and not many can argue with that. A lot of players have good games and long periods of time at top form but he has been consistent throughout his career which is unreal.

CENTRE-BACK - RIO FERDINAND

JOLEON SAYS: Rio Ferdinand for me is the best English centre-back we have had. A lot of defenders get credit for doing stuff he never did, not because he couldn’t but because he saw it earlier, like last-ditch tackles and goal-line clearances. Rio never really did that because he saw it before it happened.

CENTRE-BACK - VINCENT KOMPANY

JOLEON SAYS: Alongside Rio I’ve gone for Vincent Kompany. Jags [Phil Jagielka] was close but Vinnie what he has done the last few years and the fact he will be regarded as one of the best centre-halves in Premier League history. He is a born leader, how he handles himself round the club and how  hard he works in training. It is a game to him every day, it means something to him every day, it’s no surprise how well he plays.

MIDFIELD - PATRICK VIEIRA

JOLEON SAYS: My brother was a midfielder and he was doing ok at Villa, near the first team, then Patrick Vieira came along and suddenly you needed to be 6’2” and an athlete. He probably ruined my brother’s career!

MIDFIELD - STEVEN GERRARD

JOLEON SAYS: Alongside Patrick would be Steven Gerrard. When I first broke into the England set-up I was at Everton and Stevie took it upon himself to say hello and introduce himself. He was probably the only player I was in awe of and it’s quite strange that I have seen people giving him stick lately. People got credit for stopping Liverpool but their game plan was to stop him from getting the ball. If he wasn’t an influence on the game you wouldn’t need to stop him having the ball. It’s a credit to him that you need do to that surely.

MIDFIELD - DAVID SILVA

JOLEON SAYS: In the hole is the best footballer I have played with; Merlin we nicknamed him at City. When he first came he was playing left wing and we thought he might struggle with the physicality of the game but after a couple of few weeks myself and Shaun Wright-Phillips were saying we didn't think anyone has tackled him or got near him yet! Steven Gerrard once said to me about him: 'I remember I went to close him down but he turned so smoothly I nearly ended up in the Kop. I was like wow.’

I have only tried to tackle him once in training and I had to go off with an injury. I went to close him down and he changed direction that smoothly, I tried to go with him and my body is too big to be doing that. Next thing I know I was off and had to miss the next day’s training because I was injured. He is a different player.

FORWARD - WAYNE ROONEY

JOLEON SAYS: He gets unfair criticism, he is going to break English appearance records and goals. I remember first breaking into the England set up as Everton player he was pleased I was in there representing the club. Everyone in the squad then were top players but him and Stevie were different. He’s a born winner.

FORWARD - SERGIO AGUERO

JOLEON SAYS:  Alongside Rooney I have gone for Sergio. The first pre-season he came he was doing some defensive work, the ball fell to him and he ran at Vinnie, cut inside so I have come over and he cut back outside, then Vinnie came back, he has cut back out and before we knew it he was through on goal. We were like 'o my god, what is this!' Last season he was saying he needed to score because [Luis] Suarez was going to score, he was saying he needed to score two to be on top. It’s great to have that mindset.

FORWARD - CARLOS TEVEZ

JOLEON SAYS: Alongside Sergio is probably the most effective striker out of the three, Carlos Tevez. He got a lot of credit for his work rate in his games and stuff but I don’t think he gets enough credit for his ability and how good he was as a team captain.

I remember we were flying to a European game one year with a couple of younger lads and Carlos got on the plane and saw a couple of the younger lads that could have been involved were sitting at the back in the smaller seats. He got up and went up to the manager and said: 'No disrespect, none of you are going to play, the younger lads are down there and might have to be involved, I think they need to sit up front'. They just got up, got their stuff and the two young lads came up front. Nobody told him to do that, he just took it upon himself. He rightly got the armband, he was a good leader.