The Three Lions are preparing themselves for meetings with Andorra and Hungary, with Gareth Southgate taking an opportunity to shuffle his pack
Jadon Sancho has been included in the latest England squad despite the struggles he has suffered following his big-money move to Manchester United, while Fikayo Tomori has earned a recall having impressed for AC Milan.
Gareth Southgate’s side are due to resume their 2022 World Cup qualification campaign with two fixtures during the next international break.
They will face Andorra on October 9, before hosting Hungary at Wembley three days later.
Who has made the cut?
Sancho has endured a tough time after his £73 million ($101m) switch from Borussia Dortmund to Old Trafford over the summer, with the 21-year-old winger still searching for a spark with Premier League heavyweights, but he remains part of Southgate’s thinking.
Jesse Lingard is another that the England boss is prepared to keep faith in despite regular starts proving hard to come by at club level.
The United playmaker has been making a contribution off the bench this season, with two goals and an assist, and bagged a brace for England against Andorra during their last meeting in September.
Aaron Ramsdale has landed the No 1 spot at Arsenal and will be eager to earn a first senior cap for his country, while Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins gets the nod on this occasion ahead of Leeds frontman Patrick Bamford and Roma star Tammy Abraham.
Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden also comes back in, while ex-Chelsea centre-half Tomori is included for the first time since winning his only cap to date in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Kosovo in November 2019.
Confirming your #ThreeLions squad for October! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/nY96EqnmpL
— England (@England) September 30, 2021
Who is missing for England?
A place in Southgate’s defensive plans has opened up for Tomori after Harry Maguire has picked up a calf injury with Manchester United.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is another on the treatment table, with the Liverpool full-back nursing an adductor problem while Marcus Rashford is still recovering from shoulder surgery.
Of those to drop out from the last England squad, Jude Bellingham is the most notable absentee. The 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund midfielder has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence and will need the break in order to avoid suffering burnout.
Southgate has also taken the decision not to select Red Devils forward Mason Greenwood amid reports his club side have asked for the 19-year-old’s workload to be carefully managed.
Also missing is Ben Chilwell, the Chelsea left-back having been a regular under Southgate, and the England manager admitted the defender would have to fight for his place having failed to feature at Euro 2020 and suffered a loss of form at club level.
Southgate told a press conference on Thursday: “There’s no hiding Ben had a difficult summer with us. He will have been disappointed not to have played as often as he’d have liked and there were specific reasons for that when we played Kieran Trippier, and Luke Shaw was one of the outstanding players for us in the tournament.
“So I said to Ben at the end of the tournament it would have been a hard experience with the period of isolation he had to have as well after the Scotland game. What he has to do now is to fight to get back in.
“When you have these disappointments as a player, you have the opportunity to roll your sleeves up and show your character. I’m sure he’s going to do that and force his way back into Chelsea’s team. At the moment he had 45 minutes last night and the cup game last week but at the moment getting back in that team is the priority I think.”
Southgate also addressed calls for Emile Smith Rowe, who has impressed for Arsenal, to get his first senior call-up.
He said of Smith Rowe: “He is a player we like a lot and he was very close to making this squad.
“We have brought a lot of youngsters up and that’s not always straight forward. Sometimes you want to bring them with the seniors and then they need to go back with the Under-21s. At this moment in time, unless we need to, I don’t want to bring anymore players from the U21s. They have to earn that right over a longer period. This is a fairly settled squad.”
England squad in full
Goalkeepers: Sam Johnstone, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders: Conor Coady, Reece James, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Fikayo Tomori, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker
Midfielders: Phil Foden, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice
Forwards: Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, Ollie Watkins
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