Eriksen lands role at Oscar’s expense in Spurs and Chelsea XI

There is the small matter of a London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham on Saturday evening, where the result will have a major bearing on both the final destination of the Premier League trophy and Spurs’ hopes of a top-four finish.

In honour of this pivotal fixture between city rivals, where hosts Chelsea are the strong 8/13 favourites to prevail, we’ve taken the chance to stoke the fires of debate by selecting a combined XI between the clubs.

As usual, we’ve selected the players we think are the best to play in that position between the two outfits, so see if you agree or whether you are outraged?

Petr Cech is unlucky to lose the gloves to his opposite number one. However, Hugo Lloris has nearly five years on the Chelsea stalwart and is widely considered the best keeper in the Premier League now, mixing bravery with agility in equal measures.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, the meanest defence in the country dominates the back four, with John Terry enjoying one of his finest Chelsea campaigns to date at the tender age of 33.

Jan Vertonghen is the sole Spurs man left flying the flag and he only pips Gary Cahill for his greater composure when in possession, while their abilities to defend are hard to separate.

In the middle of the park there is only room for one ‘beast’ and sadly for Sandro that mantle goes to Nemanja Matic.

The Serbian’s return to Chelsea looks like a masterstroke from Jose Mourinho, as Matic can not only mix it with the likes of Yaya Toure as a physical specimen, but he has two good feet as well.

Alongside him Tottenham hit back again, with Mousa Dembele edging Ramires for his greater ball carrying skills and abilities to go past players preferred to all-out industry from the Brazilian.

It really hots up in front of these two, where Christian Eriksen is preferred to Oscar in support of lone front man Emmanuel Adebayor.

Where Oscar’s early-season form has deserted him the Dane has come to the fore again, but it was a decision we didn’t take lightly.

Out wide, the best winger in the top-flight, Eden Hazard takes his preferred left-hand slot, while it’s left to Willian, the man Tottenham were trying to sign, to patrol the right flank ahead of Andros Townsend whose form has suffered through injury.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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