North Vs. South EPL Debate. Which End of the Country Has the Finest Players?

There has always been a rivalry between the top half, and the bottom half of the country. The south believes they are more refined, the north believes they are tougher, but both think they are better than the other.

While it’s impossible to settle that debate, what we can talk about are their respective football teams. Taking inspiration from the American All-Star games, it would be fun to see a team made up of the best players playing in the North against the best players playing in the South. Assuming anything south of Scotland and north of Birmingham is the North, and the rest is the South, a number of brilliant teams are brought into play.

To make picking the teams challenging, I put a few rules in. Only three players from each team is allowed, and no more than one player from each team in each section of the field. So, Cesc Fabregas and Gael Clichy is allowed, but Fabregas and Alex Song isn’t.

Here are my teams. They’re not bad, but I’m sure the experts from the BR community could do better:

North.

Gk. Van Der Sar – Manchester United

Lb. Evra – Manchester United

Rb. Johnson - Liverpool

Cb. Kompany – Manchester City

Cb. Jagielka - Everton

Lm. Milner – Manchester City

Rm. Pienaar - Everton

Cm. Gerrard - Liverpool

Cf. Rooney – Manchester United

Cf. Tevez – Manchester City

Cf. Torres – Liverpool

As you would expect, this team has a strong defence with marauding full backs, who should combine well with the midfielders on the wing - who would be able to interchange. Steven Gerrard should boss the midfield, but Wayne Rooney can come back to help. The front two are not typical, but both have speed, skill, and plenty of goals in them.

South.

Gk. Friedel – Aston Villa

Lb. Bale - Tottenham

Rb. Ivanovic - Chelsea

Cb. Dunne – Aston Villa

Cb. Vermaelen - Arsenal

Dm. Essien - Chelsea

Cm. Fabregas – Arsenal

Am. Young – Aston Villa

Am. Van der Vaart – Tottenham

Cf. Drogba – Chelsea

Cf. Defoe – Tottenham

Again, this team has intelligent defenders partnered by attacking full backs, especially on the left. The width in the midfield comes from Ashley Young and Rafael Van der Vaart, who are both expected to provide for the attackers. Michael Essien is expected to sit back and play the ‘Makelele-role’, giving Cesc Fabregas the ball as soon as he gets it to move the ball up the field. Didier Drogba and Jermaine Defoe would hopefully be a telling combination of a big man and a small man.

I’d expect the South to win, just, but for it to be a high scoring game.