Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and the Premier League team of the 2020s so far

Alisson is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, and has been ever since he joined Liverpool from Roma in 2018. The Brazilian goalkeeper excels in one-on-one situations and his positioning is flawless, while he is also exceptionally composed with the ball at his feet.

Most of Liverpool's attacks begin with Alisson, and as their last line of defence, he's stood up tall time and time again. He's kept 72 Premier League clean sheets for Liverpool in the last five seasons, with 20 of those coming in a remarkable Golden Glove-winning 2021-22 campaign that saw Jurgen Klopp's side finish just a single point behind champions City.

Alisson seemed almost unbeatable that season, boasting the highest save percentage in the league (76%), and has matured like a fine wine since then. Now at the ripe old age of 32, Alisson is still the most important member of Liverpool's squad, and as long as he remains between the sticks, they will continue to be there or thereabouts when the biggest prizes are handed out.

Kyle Walker has endured a miserable 2024-25 campaign. He has been plagued by form and fitness issues amid City's crisis, with a number of high-profile mistakes putting him firmly under the microscope. But one bad year should not negatively affect his legacy at Etihad Stadium.

No other right-back in the Premier League came close to matching Walker's levels of consistency between 2020 and 2024 especially. Walker's speed and strength allowed him to come out on top in almost all of his duels and drive City forward at every opportunity, while he has also long been renowned for his powers of anticipation.

The 2023-24 season was arguably Walker's best yet in the famous blue shirt as he admirably rose to the challenge of donning the captain's armband, which is one of the main reasons his recent drop-off has been so shocking. But it shouldn't be a surprise that Father Time has finally caught up to Walker; the 34-year-old staved him off longer than 99% of elite players are able to, and he deserves to be remembered as one of the finest full-backs of his generation.

When City initially signed Ruben Dias from Benfica for £65 million ($82m) in 2020, Guardiola declared to Sky Sports: "I am sure he will be an incredible player for the next six or seven years." So far, so good.

Dias has paid back that lofty £65m fee ten-fold. He has led City's defensive line like a general, always setting the tone with his aggression off the ball and execution on it. The physically imposing Portuguese is comfortable with both feet, times his tackles to perfection and has a knack for breaking up play, with opposition strikers often forced down blind allies whenever they enter into his vicinity.

"Ruben is not playing just his game. He is playing the game for everyone," Guardiola said in 2023. "He has the ability to see and solve the problems for many things. His character is so important." Even during these more testing times for City, that has still been the case. Frighteningly, Dias still has his prime years ahead of him at 27, and he will stop at nothing to bring City back to the top.

In 2022, AC Milan icon Paolo Maldini predicted that Virgil van Dijk "will soon be the best defender in the history of football". Three years on, the Netherlands international hasn't quite managed to fulfil that prophecy, but there is no denying his status as one of the all-time great centre-backs, and his presence has ensured that Liverpool remain an elite force.

Van Dijk is a quick, elegant defender who dominates in the air and reads the game brilliantly. The former Southampton and Celtic star has remarkable technical qualities for a big man, excelling whenever he drives out of the defence, and he's been an exemplary leader for Liverpool since inheriting the captain's armband from Jordan Henderson in 2023.

The Premier League has never seen an all-rounder quite like Van Dijk, who has yet to show any signs of slowing down despite approaching his mid-thirties. Liverpool simply have to tie him down to a new contract if they are serious about replacing City at the top of English football permanently.

"Andy Robertson is in my eyes probably the best left-back in the world," former Liverpool boss Klopp said in 2021. Few would have argued with Klopp back then, and that statement still holds up to this day.

Robertson is certainly unmatched when it comes to pure work rate, stamina and vision. He's very reliable in defence and gives Liverpool an X-factor in attack with his athleticism and precise crossing. At his very best, Robertson is an assist machine; he notched 12 as the Reds romped to the 2019-20 Premier League crown and contributed 10 to their cause two seasons later, while he also has a knack for popping up with important goals.

Slot has asked Robertson to adapt his role slightly this season, which has led to the goal contributions drying up, but he's still a vital cog in Liverpool's system and rarely puts a foot wrong. Robertson is already guaranteed a place in the Premier League's left-back Hall of Fame alongside the likes of Ashley Cole, Patrice Evra, Dennis Irwin and Nigel Winterburn, and may even eclipse all of them in the long run because he still has so much more to give at the age of 30.

City have not been the same since Rodri limped out of their 2-2 draw with Arsenal on September 22. The Spaniard was subsequently ruled out of action for the remainder of the season, and very decent players have been unable to fill the void, namely Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes.

Unfortunately for City, there is no ideal replacement for Rodri because he's one of a kind. There was uproar when Rodri scooped the 2024 Ballon d'Or ahead of Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior in November, but who could really say with a straight face that City's star man didn't deserve it? Even if you forget about the fact he was named Player of the Tournament after Spain's run to glory at Euro 2024, Rodri could have scooped the Golden Ball purely based on his 2023-24 campaign at City.

Rodri would also have been a worthy winner in 2022-23, when City won the treble (and he scored the winner in a Champions League final). Rodri is one of the greatest midfielders ever; he has incredible defensive instincts, an underrated eye for goal, and can dictate the pace of games with his passing. It's a shame that it's taken a serious injury for his talents to be properly appreciated because Rodri is a true master of his craft and perhaps the best signing of Guardiola's entire reign at the Etihad.

“He wears no earrings, no tattoos, drives a normal car… He is an incredible player for us,” Guardiola told reporters after watching Bernardo Silva inspire City to a 3-0 derby win over Manchester United in October 2023. “He is one of the best players I’ve ever seen in my life, I am lucky to train a lot of top-class players and he is one of the best and one of the best for how clever he is.”

Bernardo hasn't always received the credit he deserves because as Guardiola alluded to, he's not flashy and is happy to let others hog the limelight. But no other player has been as influential as Bernardo in a City shirt, particularly over the last five and a half seasons.

Beyond his impressive haul of 28 goals and 35 assists in the Premier League, Bernardo has served as City's magician in general play, working in tiny pockets of space with the deftest touches and supreme self-control. It's been a joy to watch the Portuguese maestro and he should be given a statue outside the Etihad alongside Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero and David Silva for everything he's done for the club.

Kevin De Bruyne is a wonderful footballer. He proved that in his first four years at City, silencing the critics who said he'd never make it at the top level after a failed spell at Chelsea, and in the last six years he's become Premier League royalty.

De Bruyne has hit 47 goals in the top flight since the start of the 2019-20 season, many of which have been spectacular, while setting up another 68. He can score from any angle, but passing is De Bruyne's real superpower; he's now up to 114 Premier League assists, just 48 behind all-time leader Ryan Giggs, despite having played 360 games less than the Manchester United legend.

Former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports in 2021: "Kevin De Bruyne is the best [passer] the Premier League has ever seen. His football IQ is so high with the way he spots the pass, analyses it and then his ability to execute it is just phenomenal." Indeed, De Bruyne's ball-striking is a unique and awe-inspiring sight to behold, and he sees things on the pitch that other mere mortals do not. There has never been a better pure playmaker than De Bruyne, in the Premier League or any other division in the world, and City would not have reached such dizzy heights without him.

Next up is the man who could very well go down as the greatest Premier League player ever, ahead of De Bruyne, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer. It will certainly be very difficult to deny Mohamed Salah that status if he lands his second league title with Liverpool this season, which could be his last at Anfield amid a ridiculous contract stand-off that has dragged on for far too long.

Salah is spearheading Liverpool's latest bid for Premier League glory in amazing fashion, having racked up 30 goal contributions in just 17 appearances. "Mo and the word extraordinary is something I’ve heard a lot in the last six months — he truly deserves this," Slot said after seeing the 32-year-old run riot at West Ham on Sunday, and he's absolutely right.

What Salah has done this term, and indeed almost every other year since his move to Liverpool from Roma in 2018, is not normal. He's scored 118 Premier League goals across the last six campaigns alone, and seems to just get better with each passing year. If Anfield big-wigs FSG let Salah leave for nothing in the summer, it would be the biggest gaffe of the century; Salah is a phenomenon who continues to push the boundaries of excellence and will forever be etched into Liverpool folklore.

Tottenham's long wait for silverware continued in the first half of the 2020s, but not for lack of effort from Son Heung-min. The South Korean sensation has been the one constant for Spurs as they've lurched from one disaster to another under a flurry of different managers: a ruthless, technically gifted player who delivers the goods against any opponent.

Son was most effective when he had Harry Kane to link up with, but he hasn't allowed his standards to slip since the England captain's 2023 move to Bayern Munich. In fact, the dynamic forward posted his joint-best career numbers in the Premier League last season (17 goals and 10 assists), as he swapped between his usual role on the left wing and a No.9 berth in Ange Postecoglou's more attack-minded system.

It's a real shame that Spurs haven't been able to match Son's individual quality as a collective. The 32-year-old may rue not pushing for a move to a bigger club when he eventually retires, but a lack of trophies shouldn't detract from what a superb asset he has been for the Premier League.

Haaland ended a three-game Premier League goal drought on Sunday by nodding home City's second in a 2-0 win at Leicester, taking his tally for the season to 14. Much has been made of Haaland's recent struggles, with the Norwegian only scoring three goals in his last 10 top-flight games for City, but he's still only three behind Salah in the Golden Boot race.

The fact is, Haaland is judged to a higher standard than any other striker in the game, which is a consequence of his staggering output across his first two seasons at the Etihad. Haaland smashed the record for goals in a single Premier League campaign in his first year at City (36), and turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle for Guardiola in pursuit of Champions League success, before hitting another 27 in the league to retain the Golden Boot last term.

Now, everyone expects Haaland to score every time he takes to the pitch, which he was doing at the start of the season, as he netted a staggering 10 goals in City's opening six league games. Haaland is a victim of his own brilliance. Make no mistake, he is still the best centre-forward in the business, and his prolific start to life in the toughest league in the world will never be repeated.