Jobe Bellingham and Josh King called up by England
Jobe Bellingham and Josh King are the headline names after Thomas Tuchel handed both uncapped midfielders call-ups to his England squad for the Nations League games against Croatia and Spain. Borussia Dortmund’s Bellingham, 21, joins his brother Jude in the senior set-up after impressing as captain of the Under-21s.
King’s rise has been just as rapid. The 19-year-old has become a fixture in Fulham’s midfield this season, and his two Premier League goals make him their top league scorer. He travelled with England’s preparation squad before the summer’s World Cup and has kept catching the eye for the Under-21s.
Key events
What do we make of that then? Josh King a better player than Cole Palmer? Looks like this goes beyond just playing ability. Tuchel’s press conference is set for 11am so we’ll see how he explains what looks like a huge snub.
Full England squad; Cole Palmer left out
The other big news in Tuchel’s squad announcement is that there is again no place for Cole Palmer. Other surprise omissions include Noni Madueke and Kobbie Mainoo.
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jason Steele (Brighton & Hove Albion), James Trafford (Leeds United)
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Marc Guéhi (Manchester City), Lewis Hall (Newcastle United), Ezri Konsa (Arsenal), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Inter Milan), Ben White (Arsenal)
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Manchester City), Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), James Garner (Everton), Josh King (Fulham), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool), Morgan Rogers (Chelsea)
Jobe Bellingham and Josh King called up by England
Jobe Bellingham and Josh King are the headline names after Thomas Tuchel handed both uncapped midfielders call-ups to his England squad for the Nations League games against Croatia and Spain. Borussia Dortmund’s Bellingham, 21, joins his brother Jude in the senior set-up after impressing as captain of the Under-21s.
King’s rise has been just as rapid. The 19-year-old has become a fixture in Fulham’s midfield this season, and his two Premier League goals make him their top league scorer. He travelled with England’s preparation squad before the summer’s World Cup and has kept catching the eye for the Under-21s.
Fifa wants talks with the IOC over restricting the Olympic women’s football tournament to under-23s owing to concerns over fixture congestion and the workload of senior players. Here’s Matt Hughes’ exclusive.
The death of Jesús de Miguel Alameda is still hard to comprehend. Utterly tragic.
Sid Lowe: “Football is supposed to be a safe space, a refuge, an escape. All those lines about giving your life to the game are not supposed to be literal. This didn’t make sense. The images and the outcome shocked; the contradictory combination of the improbability and the plausibility of it all made it harder still to come to terms with: this couldn’t happen yet it could have happened to anyone.”
Frank Lampard’s return to Everton kicks off this week’s 10 things column. Also… Glasner sparking Forest fire, Zubimendi and Kroupi in spotlight and Carrick v Emery.
The Premier League weekend action starts tonight with Everton v Coventry. A couple of things…
1) Get those fantasy teams sorted in time.
2) This City Is Ours will have to wait until full-time. Tonight’s Merseyside turf war comes first – follow it via our MBM.
If Frank Lampard’s visitors get the win they’ll move to 12 points. Andrew Beasley reveals why that’s significant.
A round-up of last night’s action in Europe. That’s now seven wins on the trot for Bournemouth in all competitions but they’re not happy up in Sunderland.
Paul MacInnes was at Selhurst Park to see 10-man Palace snatch a draw.
”After being outplayed by a side currently in the bottom half of the Bundesliga, and a goal down from the seventh minute, Palace looked to have lost all hope in this fixture when Adam Wharton was dismissed with 13 minutes to go…”
Some talking points ahead of the England squad announcement which we’re expecting at 10am GMT. England go into the final two games on nine points after three wins and a loss.
Cole Palmer. The Chelsea man pulled out of the September/October squad through injury, which drew a frustrated response from Thomas Tuchel, who said the 24-year-old misses too many camps. Does he get another chance?
Saka out, so who comes in on the right? Bukayo Saka misses this international break after picking up a quadriceps problem in the 2-2 Champions League draw with Bayern Munich. Arsenal colleague Noni Madueke looks the obvious replacement.
The goalkeeper debate. Jordan Pickford faces genuine competition for the No 1 spot for the first time in his England career, with James Trafford having started two of the four autumn games. Dean Henderson is also likely to return after recovering from injury.
Will Lankshear. Could the young striker, who left Tottenham for Middlesbrough in the summer, get a surprise call-up. Taken under the wing of Harry Kane and all that. Lankshear’s tally of 15 goals in 16 matches for Boro this season is certainly Kane-like.
Preamble
If England’s Champions League sides delivered a mixed bag earlier in the week, Thursday’s Europa League action was no different.
Bournemouth’s winning streak continued, 10-man Crystal Palace scraped a last-gasp draw while there were boos at Sunderland after a home loss to Dinamo Zagreb. Elsewhere, there was a rousing comeback win for Celtic and Brighton still don’t know what it’s like to concede a goal in the Conference League after a 1-0 win at Getafe.
But that’s last night’s news. Football doesn’t hang around and today the focus is on the announcement of England’s squad for the final two Nations League group games against Croatia and Spain. Expect the white smoke around 10am.
That latest pesky international break starts next week but before then it’s another round of hot Premier League action. We’ll have build-up and managers talking throughout the day.
Right, let’s get this thing going!
