Masters Football: The dream line-ups of the Premier League’s top clubs

Masters football will return to our screens after an 11-year break.

The legendary six-a-side tournament, which ran between 2000 and 2011, was one of Sky Sport’s most-watched programmes in the naughties.

Pitting former Premier League stars against each other, including the likes of Andy Cole, Roy Keane and Paul Gascoigne, the tournament showcased that top-level professionals never really lose their class.

The tournaments featured some insane battles in the past, including the 2009’s Merseyside derby semi-final and a huge North London Derby played the same year.

How’s that for a bit of nostalgia to get you in the mood?

The tournament will return from its hiatus on July 8 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow and several big names will be dusting off their shin pads for the event.

Former Manchester United title winners Paul Scholes and Wes Brown are being backed to join up with ex-Liverpool player Steve McManaman as well as several other footballing legends for the revival of the tournament.

And in anticipation of the tournament, here at GIVEMESPORT, we’ve been thinking about some of the stars of years gone by that we’d love to see in the Masters Football arena.

So we thought we’d put together a hypothetical starting lineup of each of the players we’d love to see turning out for some of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.

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The rules are that only six players can be on the field at any one time, each player has to be over 35, must have now retired and have had a long-standing association with their club.

Each team consists of nine players, with only six of those being allowed on the pitch at any one time.

Let’s kick it off with Arsenal, whose team contains a string of invincibles from the club’s golden years.

Arsenal

GK: David Seaman

DEF: Sol Campbel

MID: Patrick Vieira

MID: Robert Pires

MID: Dennis Bergkamp

ST: Thierry Henry

SUB: Lee DixonSUB: Robin van PersieSUB: Freddie Ljundberg

That starting lineup is enough to strike fear into any opposition side and could be a hot favourite to win any Masters Football tournament.

Between them alone, the side boasts an incredible 700 goals across all competitions for the Gunners, with Henry netting 228 of those goals.

And while their strike force no doubt is good enough to rip apart any defence, with Seaman, Campbel and Vieira holding things down at the back, it’ll be hard for any team to score past this invincible squad.

Manchester United

GK: Edwin van der Sar

DEF: Rio Ferdinand

MID: David Beckham

MID: Paul Scholes

MID: Ryan Giggs

ST: Wayne Rooney

SUB: Michael CarrickSUB: Gary NevilleSUB: Ruud van Nistelrooy

This team basically picks itself.

Built on a core of players who won countless trophies under the stewardship of the great Sir Alex Ferguson, we’d love to see the likes of Beckham, Scholes and Giggs don the red jersey once again and perhaps maybe even dominate Masters Football too.

Chelsea

GK: Petr Cech

DEF: John Terry

MID: Frank Lampard

MID: Arjen Robben

MID: Gianfranco Zola

ST: Didier Drogba

SUB: Joe ColeSUB: Ashley ColeSUB: Michael Ballack

This team is packed to the rafters with Champions League winners and Premier League champions.

With two generals at the back, Lampard dictating things in midfield and an epic attack of Robben, Drogba and Zola piercing through opposition defences, this might be one of the most well-balanced sides on this list.

Liverpool

GK: Pepe Reina

DEF: Jamie Carragher

MID: Steven Gerrard

MID: Xabi Alonso

MID: Dirk Kuyt

ST: Fernando Torres

SUB: Michael OwenSUB: Peter CrouchSUB: Javier Mascherano

Featuring a flock of legends from Liverpool’s incredible 2005 Champions League campaign, we know many Red’s who would love to see the likes of Torres and Alonso back running riot for the Merseyside club.

Plus, we couldn’t leave Crouchy and Carragher out, could we?

Tottenham

GK: Brad Friedel

DEF: Michael Dawson

MID: Scott Parker

MID: Rafael van der Vaart

MID: Jermaine Jenas

ST: Dimitar Berbatov

SUB: Edgar DavidsSUB: Teddy SheringhamSUB: Robbie Keane

Spurs come in with a strong side of legends, too, with an outfit of ex-pros that features legendary Dutchman Davids, whose pace allowed him to speed past opposition Premier League players between 2005 and 2007.

Manchester City

GK: David James

DEF: Vincent Kompany

MID: Shaun Wright-Phillips

MID: Gareth Barry

MID: Yaya Toure

ST: Carlos Tevez (Exception)

SUB: Pablo ZabaletaSUB: Micah RichardsSUB: Kolo Toure

Okay, we had to make an exception at the end here to include Carlos Tevez, who technically has not retired just yet, but in any event, we’d love to see the former city striker tearing it up in the Masters Football league.

Equally, how good would it be to see Toure dominating players in the middle of the park and Kompany smashing long-range efforts from the backfield.

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