What's this about us having a consensus "strongest XI", by the way?
Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko; Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Foden
That's probably our strongest XI in most peoples' eyes, but I could contest at least four positions in that team. Is Jesus our best #9, or Torres? Is Fernandinho more effective behind the midfield than Rodri? Is Sterling better on the right than Mahrez? Should Grealish be in over Foden or Gundogan? Is Cancelo a better left-back than Zinchenko? Is Laporte in better form than Dias or Stones at the moment?
The whole point is that we don't have a strongest XI, especially not further up the pitch. Teams with an established first XI tend not to win the Premier League these days, except for maybe Leicester in 2016 -- and even that was 5 years ago when City still had the phoenix on the badge. United have an established XI but they won't win the league this year because their "B-team" contains about 2 players who could fill the gap in quality.
United's established XI (when everyone's fit) is probably: De Gea; Wan Bissaka, Varane, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Pogba, Fernandes; Sancho, Ronaldo, Greenwood.
That's a good team but, if they want to go deep in all competitions and win a couple of pots, who's going to step in and perform to the level of the rivals in their position? You could make a good case for Cavani and maybe Rashford on his day, but what about Dalot? Martial? Bailly? Lindelof? Fred? Van De Beek? There's no chance. Whereas Bernardo, Grealish, Laporte, Fernandinho - we know we can trust these guys to fill in when first picks are out injured.