Ai??zil, Mahrez and Vardy feature in Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football Team of the Season so far; SA?nchez pick causes controversy

Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry were the pundits on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme for the game between Arsenal FC and Manchester City, and were asked to pick their Premier League Team of the Season thus far

Leicester City players predictably featured prominently in the Monday Night Football Team of the Season thus far, with Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry deliberating over the 11 players to be chosen in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

There was also a heavy Arsenal FC presence, with superstar Mesut zil unanimously chosen, although there was controversy over the selection of Chilean Alexis SA?nchez, with Jamie Carragher in disbelief that the Gunners’ attacker was voted in ahead of West Ham’s Dimitri Payet.

The pundits disagreed about four players in total, and Sky opted to allow fans to choose between two players — one each nominated by Carragher and Henry — via a Twitter poll. SA?nchez was arguably the most controversial of those picks, while for the other three positions, Stoke City’s excellent young keeper Jack Butland was voted in ahead of Manchester United’s David de Gea, Chris Smalling beat Laurent Koscielny, while Everton’s Ross Barkley made the team ahead of Santi Cazorla.

Claudio Ranieri’s men have performed well beyond anybody’s wildest dreams, and unsurprisingly, there is a spot each for Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, arguably the two stand-out performers of the 2015-2016 Premier League season thus far, as well as one for midfield powerhouse N’golo Kant , who has done a brilliant job at protecting the back four as well as driving the team forward in attacking transitions.

Carragher in disbelief over SA?nchez selection

Arsenal FC fans have a reputation for ‘winning’ Twitter polls, and perhaps the Liverpool FC legend did not quite realise just how predictable this outcome was. Dimitri Payet is arguably the more deserving candidate, having inspired West Ham to some big wins during this season, but Carragher’s nominee missed out after gaining only 38% of the vote.

The former centre-back said on the programme (via the Independent): “That is a joke! Who is voting for that? How is he in there, Sanchez? I love him, he’s brilliant player but this season? No.a

“I think Payet was brilliant at the start of the season. Hea s missed out the last month, six weeks with the injury he had.

a The impact hea s had, goals and assists, but it wasna t just his numbers but who hea s done it against. He hasna t just come in and scored against the teams at the bottom, but the big sides too. He was outstanding.”