Man City stars dominate Arsenal in Carabao Cup final combined XI

Pep Guardiola's decision to cut his losses with Claudio Bravo and sign Ederson from Benfica was an excellent decision, with the 24-year-old enjoying a fine debut season in England. The Brazilian may not have the experience of Petr Cech, but he is the goalkeeper in form and takes the first spot in our combined XI.

With John Stones horribly out of form and Vincent Kompany recently returning from injury, it has been up to Otamendi to control the heart of the City defence this season and the Argentinian has done a fine job. Few players have been more involved for their teams in terms of touches of the ball and passes completed in the Premier League, while his decision making has also proven to be a lot better than last season.

With no Vincent Kompany in our XI, Koscielny fills the role of organiser in our back-three, despite the Frenchman not being the commanding central defender he once was. Of Arsenal's outfield players, only Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin have played more Premier League minutes than Koscielny this season.

Laporte has settled seamlessly into the city defence and takes the final spot in our combined XI defence. The 23-year-old completed 90 minutes in both of City's last two league games, a 3-0 victory against West Brom and a 5-1 thrashing of Leicester City, and is likely to be involved on Sunday.

Fernandinho has proven to be one of the most important players in Guardiola's system at the Etihad, though rarely receives praise on the level that his attacking team-mates do. The Brazilian gets straight into the current Arsenal midfield, and so gets the nod here.

There is little to say about De Bruyne that hasn't already been said this season, having been directly involved in 21 goals – seven goals, 14 assists – in 27 Premier League appearances. The 26-year-old has also claimed four assists and a goal in just five Champions League outings, handing him a place in our XI.

Though he still has his critics, and almost certainly always will, Ozil is quietly having an impressive season at the Emirates. Seven assists, four goals, and a huge amount of chances created for his Arsenal team-mates, Ozil's presence is a major reason that a top-four finish is still possible for Arsenal, albeit highly unlikely.

The spot on the right of attack was between Raheem Sterling and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the latter of which has had a stunning start to life at Arsenal. Sterling's performances across 2017-18 have also been outstanding, however, and he has shown he can deliver on a consistent basis, scoring 20 goals in 30 starts across all competitions.

As with Sterling on the other side, Sane's explosive displays in the attacking areas for City this season directly correlates with their current standing as Premier League leaders. The 22-year-old already has 10 league assists this season, only team-mate De Bruyne has more.

Though Aubameyang drew a blank in the north London derby against Tottenham last time out, his scoring record in the Bundesliga speaks for itself and he opened his Arsenal account in his debut, a 5-1 victory over Everton.

Aguero's consistency in front of goal is frightening – he has reached at least 20 Premier League goals in his past three seasons, and already has 21 to his name this season in just 1788 minutes of football, an average of a goal every 85 minutes.

And here's how they line up…