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Gareth Southgate will remember his great weapons for Sunday’s Nations League clash against Belgium despite his fringe heroes impressing against Wales.
Harry Kane, Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire, Declan Rice, Jordan Pickford and Marcus Rashford are in line to face the Belgians again.
England’s experimental team impressed against the Welsh on Thursday night with a 3-0 victory.
The likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Danny Ings, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka shone through in their full international debuts. But it will be a different story against the world’s number one ranked team, Belgium.
“The games with Belgium and Denmark are a better indication of how we are operating against nations closer to the top of the rankings,” Southgate said.
“Belgium, we know the outstanding people they have, but also how long their team has been playing very stable and it is one of the biggest challenges we could have outside of France and Spain.”
Conor Coady, who won only his second international match, was excellent against Wales and Southgate was impressed. Sportsmail understands that the Wolves defender has a real chance to start at the heart of a back-three at next summer’s European Championship.
The return of the England coach to three suits Coady as the Wolves play that way. But with Maguire and Eric Dier pushing for the recall against Belgium, the central defender could find himself on the bench again. Southgate makes no guarantees to those who have made a breakthrough in their team that they will be included in their team for Euro 2020.
He selected a 30-man team for these matches, but will have to cut it down by seven for next summer’s tournament. He said: ‘I’ll never say never (to more debuts) because young players these days emerge so fast and can advance so fast.
“We have a good idea what the majority of the team will be like, but there are definitely places at stake.” Someone like Dominic Calvert-Lewin is making a really strong case for breaking in.
Ben Chilwell will not be available for the Belgium game due to a minor illness. The Chelsea defender, who missed the win over Wales after breaking Covid rules by attending Tammy Abraham’s surprise 23rd birthday party, did not participate in the final UEFA testing round on Friday, so he did not available.
Abraham and Jadon Sancho, who were also at the party, are expected to be available.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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