It is no bold claim to suggest Ashley Cole was one of the best left-backs in the world during his prime years.
The defender played a key role in two of the greatest teams of the Premier League era: Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ in the 2003/04 season and Carlo Ancelotti’s double-winning Chelsea side in 2009/10.
He won all there is to win in his 15-year stint in England’s top-flight and on Monday night the veteran full-back shed some light on his glorious career, appearing as a guest on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show.
He admitted he occasionally feels sad about the manner in which he made the switch from north to west London in 2006.
But it was his combined Arsenal and Chelsea XI that perhaps raised the most eye brows in the studio.
Cole was asked to choose from the two sides in the picture above.
Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ boasted the likes of Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.
While Chelsea’s double-winning side had arguably one of the best spines of the modern era with Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
There was no doubting it would be tough for Cole to choose an 11 between the sides – but who made the cut?
Cole opted for a 4-4-2 formation and chose Petr Cech over Jens Lehmann without any hesitation.
He had no choice but to choose himself at left-back, but the right-back spot proved a little more tricky and Branislav Ivanovic eventually preferred over Lauren.
John Terry was a must as one of the centre-backs and Sol Campbell got the nod over Ricardo Carvalho and Kolo Toure in the other slot.
Cole had no qualms over the central-midfield slots – with his new boss at Derby – Frank Lampard – in one, and Patrick Vieira in the other.
The wingers proved to be the harder pick but suprisingly Florent Malouda claimed a spot at right-wing over Freddie Ljungberg – with Cole praising his “tireless” work for the team.
French forward Robert Pires was the unsurprising choice at left-wing.
The hardest decision for Cole undoubtedly came at the end for the striker roles.
Inevitably Thierry Henry filled one of them without any problems, being one of the most lethal finishers in Premier League history.
But the decision over Dennis Bergkamp and Didier Drogba proved to be the toughest call of the process.
Eventually it was the Ivorian who prevailed, with Cole stating: “If it wasn’t for Drogba I wouldn’t have a Champions League medal around my neck.”
Have a look at his side in full below…