Interim England manager Gareth Southgate has named his maiden England squad ahead of this month’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia.
Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard will be the only uncapped player in the squad, with United teammate Marcus Rashford returning to the senior setup after his impressive form in the last month.
Southgate has called upon Glen Johnson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the upcoming matches, with both returning to the national team after long-term absences.
Liverpool duo Nathaniel Clyne and Adam Lallana both drop out of the squad due to injuries they suffered on the weekend.
Interim manager @GarethSouthgate has named a 23-man squad for the #ThreeLions' upcoming @FIFAWorldCup qualifiers: pic.twitter.com/0Tmk87mLAA
— England (@England) October 2, 2016
“We’ve tried to keep some continuity from last month because my view would be that there are a lot of things that have been going right,” Southgate told thefa.com.
“We’ve had a few people unavailable through injury like Harry Kane and Jack Butland, and we’ve lost a couple over the weekend in Danny Drinkwater, Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne while Luke Shaw isn’t quite back fit yet. That’s had a bearing on the squad.
“There are obviously a couple of players that I’ve worked with in the Under-21s with Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, who we think are exciting young players who we wanted to put in this squad.
“It’s obviously been a difficult week in a number of ways, however we are in a position now where it’s important to get the squad named. I’m looking forward now to working with the players because it’s important that we build on the performance and the result against Slovakia.”
England’s first game under the stewardship of Southgate will take place on October 8 at home to Malta.
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