Going with the idea of it not just being the best players, my central idea is that of strong partnerships.
Henry
Ronaldo Bergkamp Robben
Vieira Makelele
Cole Vidic Ferdinand Azpilicueta
Ederson
Ederson allows this dominant team to okay out from the back.
Vidic and Ferdinand require no justification on this forum I’m sure. I wanted to pick a real life CB pairing and while there are some monster CB left out, I think they may be the tightest s and most well balanced I’ve seen.
Cole could overlap into the space Ronaldo vacates. Azpilicueta could also hit the byline when Robben cut in, but is equally comfortable tucking in and preventing and counter attacks freeing Robben to not worry about tracking back too much.
Vieira and Makelele are another real world pairing who dominated midfields at the highest level. Press-resistant, dribbling, passing range, position, strength, speed, stamina, leadership - that midfield has it all.
Bergkamp and Henry. I’m biased, but I think it’s the best strike partnership in Premier League history. Elegance personified. As well as Bergkamp supplying Henry, he would also be loading the bullets for Ronaldo and Robben to fire. Plus Henry would naturally drift to the left creating overloads with Ronaldo and Cole.
I know it’s probably sacrilege to not include Shearer amongst others, but that’s my team.