What would an England side look like if Arsenal and Manchester City players were completely omitted?

Those are the ground rules we established with our Spain version missing their Barcelona stars and so now we turn our attention to England.

To make things a little trickier, we’ve omitted not just the league champions but City too and tried to put together the best England squad we could.

Starting between the sticks, it’s been almost 10 years since a City or Arsenal keeper played in a competitive England game and that is because Jordan Pickford has had the position locked down.

Now, as it looks as if Pickford’s time as automatic first choice may be coming to an end, he is competing with James Trafford who had to move away from City in order to find some form.

It is at centre-back where England could really suffer though should they lose all Arsenal and City prospects.

That means both first choices of Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa would be unavailable and so Jarrad Branthwaite would likely step in. At 24, the Everton player does look like a future starter but is still a step down for now.

John Stones may be 32 and left the Premier League but he stated in the summer he had no plans of hanging up his England boots just yet.

Stones can still definitely do a job and would be some much-needed experience alongside Branthwaite, but if he were to get an injury, you are looking at someone like Jarell Quansah to fill in.

England have had very strong full backs in the last decade and now their concentration of talent is focused on the left side.

Nico O’Reilly has been an inverted revelation in the last 12 months but with him out, Lewis Hall would be the obvious pick.

The Newcastle player operates more as a traditional full-back but would work well with former teammate Anthony Gordon ahead of him.

On the other side, when fit, Reece James remains one of the best right backs in world football.

He increasingly operates centrally which may not be what England need with other midfield talents, while Trent Alexander-Arnold remains an interesting, if rarely used, option.

The loss of Elliott Anderson and Declan Rice opens the door to James Garner who has been on the periphery of the England squad while Alex Scott and Kobbie Mainoo would have to battle it out for the other spot.

It is up front where there is not too much change.

Harry Kane remains the number nine choice, as does Jude Bellingham in the central spot. On the left, Anthony Gordon deserves to hang on to his space meaning it is just right wing that is short.

England is surprisingly short of players who would call that their natural position though.

Rio Ngumoha, Marcus Rashford, Morgan Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze and Morgan Rogers would all prefer to be central or on the left and the only realistic option would be to put Cole Palmer there.

The 24-year-old has started all five Premier League games in the central spot this season but has played on the right flank 56 times in his career.

So while the attack remains very strong, you would have question marks over the defence.

READ NEXT: England’s best XI – based entirely objectively, statistically on 2026-27 form

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every England player capped by Thomas Tuchel?