Gary Neville has explained why he decided to pick William Saliba over Gabriel in his Premier League team of the season so far. The former Manchester United defender, alongside Jamie Carragher, picked his XI based on performances throughout the first half of the campaign.

After agreeing on the front six - which included Liverpool duo Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah, Chelsea's Moises Caicedo and Cole Palmer, Wolves forward Matheus Cunha and Nottingham Forest star Chris Wood - Neville and Carragher did not have the same back five.

At left-back, Carragher opted for Fulham's Antonee Robinson and Neville chose Manchester City ace Josko Gvardiol, though the iconic Sky Sports pair agreed on Virgil van Dijk as the left centre-back. As for the other central defender, Carragher went for Forest's Nikola Milenkovic and Neville opted for Saliba.

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Neville's decision to go with Saliba over Gabriel did not go unnoticed in the Sky studio, with presenter David Jones questioning why he made that choice. Neville felt that Saliba has 'edged it' over his Arsenal teammate, despite the fact Gabriel has scored three goals in the Premier League this season.

Explaining why he decided to go for Saliba over Gabriel, Neville told Sky Sports: "Because he plays right centre-back and he has edged it, I looked at the numbers this morning, it was one of those two, to be honest.

"Arsenal have got a good defensive record. It has not been the best start to the season for Arsenal, but defensively they have been strong, and he has been outstanding. I think he is the second-best centre-back in the league."

In the right-back position, Neville went for Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Carragher picked Forest's Ola Aina. Wrapping up the XI, Neville had Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels to complete his team, while Carragher selected David Raya in net as his only Arsenal representative.