Who would win a Premier League five-a-side tournament?

Liverpooland Manchester City may have ruled the Premier League in recent seasons, butwould the all-conquering duo be able to reproduce that dominance on afive-a-side pitch?

It’s anintriguing question. And it’s one that we’re unlikely to ever have a concreteanswer for unless the solution to finishing the 2019-20 season is a colossalMasters Football style event involving all 20 teams.

If that does happen, then you heard it here first. But until then, here’s our attempt to work out who’d win in a fantasy Premier League five-a-side tournament, complete with a fully filled in tournament bracket. And just to stress, this is based on this writer’s opinion alone.

QualificationRound

If we’redoing this properly, that means we need a draw bracket complete with a knockout-typeformat. Think the Champions League, but better and with a qualification roundthat involves actual competitive matches.

Our seeding system, based on the current league table, has pitched the bottom eight teams against each other in a bid to reach the main draw, with Southampton, Watford, Aston Villa and West Ham, all getting past their respective opponents.

While thequartet may be near the bottom of the Premier League, they do all boast excitingtechnical players like Nathan Redmond, Gerard Deulofeu, John McGinn and ManuelLanzini who would thrive at five-a-side.

Round Two

Now thingsstart to get heat-up as the supposed big boys enter the fray. There’s notrouble for the likes of Man City, Man United and Leicester, who all breezethrough, but some notable names have fallen by the wayside.

The inconsistency of Kepa and the wastefulness of Tammy Abraham sees Chelsea beaten by a Wolves side containing Ruben Neves, Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez in the first minor upset of the day.

Watford andBournemouth, two sides filled with technical quality, ultimately bow out to a MesutOzil-inspired Arsenal and a combination of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk forLiverpool as two more notable names go through.

It’s not tobe for Everton, though, who succumb first to the dazzling footwork of AllanSaint-Maximin and then the lottery of penalties as Steve Bruce’s entertainers(really) translate their FA Cup form into five-a-side.

CrystalPalace also march on thanks to the triple threat of Jordan Ayew, Andros Townsendand Wilfried Zaha up-front, with Spurs Jose Mourinho forced to concede that he’snot the special one in this arena.

Quarter-Finals

Fuelled by energy drinks, Rod Stewart has made his way down to the local 5-a-side centre to conduct the quarter-final draw. Unfortunately, this draw is seeded, so his services aren’t required. Sorry, Rod.

First-up it’s Man City v Wolves. This was a close-run thing with Pep Guardiola’s men narrowly coming out on top thanks to Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva. Ederson’s contribution shouldn’t go unnoticed either.

Liverpool also go through to the semi-finalsafter a battling success against an Arsenal side which reverted to typeand let itself down defensively. Mohamed Salah is a little Egyptian devil insmaller sided games.  

Newcastle’s brave run also comes to an endagainst a Man United side inspired by the midfield duo of BrunoFernandes and Paul Pogba, while Leicester are also halted by the streetwisebrilliance of Crystal Palace.

The Foxesrelied heavily on Youri Tielemans and James Maddison throughout the tournament.Jamie Vardy knows where the goal is, but the confines of five-a-side made itdifficult for the marksman to create space.

Semi-Finals

Man City andLiverpool have enjoyed plenty of titanic battles in recent times – both in thePremier League and the Champions League – and usually it’s the Reds who landthe odds in the head-to-head battles.

That’s oftendown to the incredible pressing capabilities of Jurgen Klopp’s side. But in thefive-a-side arena, it’s City’s superior technical ability and quick footworkthat sees them through to a date with destiny in the final.

With theaforementioned De Bruyne and Silva feeding Aguero, there’s only one winner. Onclub size and league position the second semi-final could be deemed as a bit ofa mismatch.

But whilePalace don’t score a lot of goals, they are tight defensively and boast amyriad of tricky forward players who are ideally suited to this format.Unfortunately for them, so too are Man United.

Fernandes, Pogba and Marcus Rashford make for a tricky front three, while the frame of David De Gea and presence of Harry Maguire at the back make for two imposing figures. It’s the Red Devils who squeak through.

The Final

You’ve seenthe result in the draw bracket above. And could there really be any otherwinner? City’s pinpoint passing accuracy coupled with their slick movement madethem a shoo-in for this five-a-side crown.

Theirlink-up play and overall technical ability makes them near impossible to beaton an eleven-a-side pitch, so just imagine how devastating they’d be in theconfines of a smaller arena with Aguero up-front.

It’s notjust that, though. Ederson is more than handy with his feet let alone his hands,while Aymeric Laporte is the perfect Guardiola centre-half. If we didn’t knowany better, we’d say Guardiola had been preparing for a Premier Leaguefive-a-side tournament all along.

Do you agree with how our tournament panned out? Reckon your team has been harshly treated in our five-a-side fantasy land?

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.