WHAT WOULD AN ALL-STAR ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH LOOK LIKE?

Premier League / Soccer

Written by Aaron Cantin

Chelsea’s new American owner, Todd Boehly, has already made quite a splash in the Premier League. After only a few months of owning the team, he’s flirted with Cristiano Ronaldo, sacked Thomas Tuchel, and brought in Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Despite all these big moves, Boehly made his biggest waves when he suggested the Premier League should have an American sports-style All-Star Game.

The idea generated a lot of pushback on the Premier League’s home turf. However, some of us — especially North Americans who’ve grown up with All-Star Games — love the idea. So, I’ve put together the starting 11 lineups for the (hypothetical) 2022 EPL All-Star Game.

Source (Background Photo): Getty Images

Premier League All-Star Game rules

Todd Boehley suggested a North vs. South Premier League All-Star Game, so that’s exactly what I’ve put together. The North team will consist of the 10 EPL squads north of London. That includes Newcastle, Leeds United, Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City, and Aston Villa. The South team will have all the London squads as well as the South Coast sides. This includes Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Fulham, Brentford, Chelsea, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove-Albion, Southampton, and Bournemouth.

How players will be chosen, whether it's fan voting, player voting or through statistics remains for debate. I’ve gone ahead and chosen the top players from each end. I’ve also decided to throw away the idea that each club must have one player starting. I’ve gone with the very best simply because it is more fun. Here are my teams.

North Squad

My north team is made up entirely of Manchester City and Liverpool players, despite the Reds' inconsistent start to the season. Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold sneak into my defence ahead of Raphael Varane and Kieran Trippier. I’ve also gone for Rodri and Thiago in midfield, with the likes of Fabinho, Bruno Fernandes and Bruno Guimaraes missing out. I've given the Premier League's best player, Kevin De Bruyne, a free role in midfield. In attack, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah are both guaranteed picks, while I've gone for Luis Diaz over Phil Foden on the left.

South Squad

I found the south team much harder to pick. I've gone for the experience of Hugo Lloris in goal over the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Edouard Mendy and Robert Sanchez. Reece James and Oleksandr Zinchenko were easy picks at full-back, while I've selected Cristian Romero and Gabriel in central defence after their impressive starts to the season. William Saliba and Thiago Silva were unlucky to miss out here. Declan Rice is in holding midfield alongside Moises Caicedo, with Martin Odegaard acting as a playmaker. Meanwhile, I've gone for an all-England front three. Harry Kane pips Gabriel Jesus to the No 9 shirt, while I've picked Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka out wide ahead of the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Gabriel Martinelli, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski.