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LAURA WOODS' PREMIER LEAGUE DREAM TEAM

Goalkeeper: Peter Schmeichel

This was a hard one for me because, naturally, I want to put in a David Seaman or Jens Lehmann but I'm going to put in Schmeichel because of everything he achieved in the Premier League. I can't not put him in.

Right-back: Gary Neville

I think the younger generation doesn't realise what a good right-back Neville was because he's so self-deprecating. He did it all so he's going in.

Left-back: Ashley Cole

Cole just went from winning team to winning team and he did everything in the game. He was such a brilliant player for Arsenal and for Chelsea and even to this day I think he's one of the best left-backs in the Premier League era.

Centre-backs: Tony Adams & Rio Ferdinand

This is a really difficult position to pick in the Premier League years because I think we've had some really iconic centre-backs in the past so I can't please everyone with this answer.

I'm going to go for Adams because I don't think he’s the first one that would necessarily come to everybody's mind – but there's something about him that I absolutely loved, probably equally for what he did off the pitch as on the pitch. He's a leader and I think he was an excellent centre-back.

I'll partner him with Ferdinand. It was really close with John Terry because you can't split those two but if I don't pick Rio and I have to see him every week at work I'll be in trouble!

Central midfielders: Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard & Kevin De Bruyne

You can say everything you want about Vieira, I just think he was an incredible player. Again, he’s another leader and was so strong. I loved him and Roy Keane going at it in the tunnel – and with everyone else on the pitch. I think he's really physical and Arsenal miss that kind of player.

Gerrard is another one I'm going to put in there. You will always hear the comparison between [Paul] Scholes, [Frank] Lampard and Gerrard. I'm going with Gerrard because I think, in the team he was in, he just dragged everybody up to his level and Liverpool wouldn’t have had the success of that generation without him. As an icon and as a single game-changing player, he gets in.

Because quite a lot of my team is old school, I need to put a modern player in there. Kevin De Bruyne, for example, I think is one of the best we've seen in the Premier League. He makes everybody around him look good; his accuracy, his passing, the way he picks people out, his vision. De Bruyne will go down as one of the all-time greats when he leaves.

Left wing: Thierry Henry

I don't think I need to explain my reasoning here. Henry is one of the all-time greats full stop, let alone in an individual position. He just had everything – a true all-round player – and I miss watching him to this day.

Right wing: Cristiano Ronaldo

I still watch clips of Ronaldo. As a young player he was just so impressive. He’s in for everything that he went on to achieve in his career – not just the titles, the records and all that sort of stuff but just as an individual professional and the levels that he pushed himself to. And in this position as well, moving slightly forward from right wing under Fergie [Sir Alex Ferguson], I think he’s the undeniable choice. There’s a lot of competition for this position, too.

Striker: Alan Shearer

I'm going with Shearer because you just have to. He’s the all-time Premier League record goalscorer and a Geordie – and we all love Geordies!

Manager: Arsene Wenger

It has to be Wenger. Yeah, Fergie this and Fergie that, I get it, but Arsene changed the Premier League. Still nobody else has done it unbeaten in the Premier League years; everything about the way he treated those players and the way he dragged them into the most professional era English football had ever seen… he changed the game in this country.

[Read Laura’s 2024-25 Premier League Preview here]((/blog/football/laura-woods/does-chelseas-spending-spree-lack-direction)

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