The starting lineup for every current Premier League team the last time a new GTA game came out
We’re just two months away from finally playing Grand Theft Auto 6, which got us curious. What did the starting line-ups look like for every current Premier League club when the last GTA game came out?
Back in 2013, English football was full of big moments. Gareth Bale had just left, David Moyes took over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea for a second time. Meanwhile, teams like Bournemouth, Brighton, Ipswich, Leeds, and Nottingham Forest were in the Championship, while Brentford were in League One, working their way up under Uwe Rosler.
On September 17, 2013, Grand Theft Auto V officially launched for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was a busy day in football too—Mohamed Salah scored for Basel in their win over Chelsea, six months before joining the Premier League. Moyes kicked off his Champions League run with Manchester United’s win over Bayer Leverkusen, and Ipswich also won their match against Yeovil.
So, what did the starting XI look like for each Premier League club back then? These line-ups are from the clubs’ competitive matches closest to GTA V’s release date.
**Championship: Bournemouth vs Barnsley (17 Sep 2013)**
Goalkeeper Ryan Allsop; defenders Simon Francis, Elliott Ward, Steve Cook, Charlie Daniels; midfielders Ryan Fraser, Eunan O’Kane, Shaun MacDonald, Marc Pugh; forwards Brett Pitman, Lewis Grabban
**Champions League: Arsenal vs Marseille (18 Sep 2013)**
Wojciech Szczesny; Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Kieran Gibbs; Mathieu Flamini, Aaron Ramsey; Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Özil; Olivier Giroud
**Premier League: Aston Villa vs Newcastle (14 Sep 2013)**
Brad Guzan; Matthew Lowton, Ron Vlaar, Jores Okore, Antonio Luna; Karim El Ahmadi, Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph; Andreas Weimann, Christian Benteke, Gabriel Agbonlahor
**League One: Brentford vs Tranmere (14 Sep 2013)**
Richard Lee; Shaleum Logan, Harlee Dean, Martin Taylor, Tony Craig; George Saville, Adam Forshaw, Alan McCormack, Toumani Diagouraga; Will Grigg, Clayton Donaldson
**Championship: Brighton vs QPR (18 Sep 2013)**
Tomasz Kuszczak; Inigo Calderon, Gordon Greer, Matthew Upson, Stephen Ward; Andrew Crofts, Keith Andrews, Jake Forster-Caskey; David López, Ashley Barnes, Craig Conway
**Champions League: Chelsea vs FC Basel (18 Sep 2013)**
Petr Cech; Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Ashley Cole; Frank Lampard, Marco van Ginkel; Willian, Oscar, Eden Hazard; Samuel Eto’o
**League One: Coventry City vs Gillingham (15 Sep 2013)**
Joe Murphy; Cyrus Christie, Jordan Clarke, Andy Webster, Blair Adams; Carl Baker, Conor Thomas, John Fleck, Franck Moussa; Leon Clarke, Callum Wilson
**Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Manchester United (14 Sep 2013)**
Julian Speroni; Adrian Mariappa, Danny Gabbidon, Damien Delaney, Dean Moxey; Kagisho Dikgacoi, Mile Jedinak, José Campaña; Jason Puncheon, Marouane Chamakh, Dwight Gayle
**Premier League: Everton vs Chelsea (14 Sep 2013)**
Tim Howard; Seamus Coleman, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin, Leighton Baines; Leon Osman, Gareth Barry; Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith, Ross Barkley; Nikica Jelavic
**Premier League: Fulham vs West Brom (14 Sep 2013)**
David Stockdale; Sascha Riether, Philippe Senderos, Brede Hangeland, Kieran Richardson; Steve Sidwell, Scott Parker; Bryan Ruiz, Pajtim Kasami, Alexander Kacaniklic; Dimitar Berbatov
**Premier League: Hull City vs Cardiff (14 Sep 2013)**
Allan McGregor; Ahmed Elmohamady, James Chester, Curtis Davies, Maynor Figueroa; Robert Koren, Jake Livermore, Tom Huddlestone, Robbie Brady; Sone Aluko, Danny Graham
**Championship: Ipswich Town vs Yeovil (17 Sep 2013)**
Dean Gerken; Luke Chambers, Christophe Berra, Tommy Smith, Aaron Cresswell; Carlos Edwards, Cole Skuse, Luke Hyam, Ryan Tunnicliffe; Daryl Murphy, David McGoldrick
**Championship: Leeds United vs Reading (18 Sep 2013)**
Paddy Kenny; Tom Lees, Scott Wootton, Jason Pearce, Stephen Warnock; Luke Murphy, Rodolph Austin, Michael Tonge; Ross McCormack, Luke Varney, Noel Hunt
**Premier League: Liverpool vs Swansea (16 Sep 2013)**
Simon Mignolet; Andre Wisdom, Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, José Enrique; Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva, Jordan Henderson; Philippe Coutinho, Victor Moses; Daniel Sturridge
**Champions League: Manchester City vs Viktoria Plzen (17 Sep 2013)**
Joe Hart; Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Matija Nastasic, Aleksandar Kolarov; Yaya Touré, Fernandinho; Jesus Navas, Sergio Agüero, Samir Nasri; Edin Dzeko
**Champions League: Manchester United vs Bayer Leverkusen (17 Sep 2013)**
David de Gea; Chris Smalling, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra; Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Shinji Kagawa; Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie
**Premier League: Newcastle United vs Aston Villa (14 Sep 2013)**
Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Fabricio Coloccini, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon; Vurnon Anita, Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko; Hatem Ben Arfa, Loïc Rémy, Papiss Cissé
**Championship: Nottingham Forest vs Middlesbrough (17 Sep 2013)**
Karl Darlow; Eric Lichaj, Kelvin Wilson, Jack Hobbs, Chris Cohen; Henri Lansbury, Djamel Abdoun, Radoslaw Majewski, Andy Reid; Simon Cox, Jamie Mackie
**Premier League: Sunderland vs Arsenal (14 Sep 2013)**
Keiren Westwood; Ondrej Celustka, Modibo Diakité, Valentin Roberge, Jack Colback; Adam Johnson, Ki Sung-yueng, David Vaughan, Charis Mavrias; Jozy Altidore, Steven Fletcher
**Europa League: Tottenham vs Tromso (19 Sep 2013)**
Hugo Lloris; Kyle Naughton, Younes Kaboul, Michael Dawson, Danny Rose; Sandro, Mousa Dembélé; Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lewis Holtby, Erik Lamela; Jermain Defoe
It’s pretty cool to look back and see how much things have changed since then—and exciting to think about what’s next with GTA 6 coming soon!