Story by Dec Campbell
As Gareth Southgate prepares to take the reins of his 3rd game as England manager, we take a look at his squad to face Germany and Lithuania. Myself, Cameron Hogwood, Joe Hewlett and Matthew Beedle analyse the selection and give our opinions.
Much of the speculation surrounding the squad revolves around some surprise inclusions and some intriguing omissions. With the usual main stays of the squad, such as Yorkshire-man Kyle Walker as well as Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling all included, big names such as Theo Walcott and Captain Wayne Rooney missed out.
The squad includes four players hoping to make their senior debuts, Michail Antonio, Michael Keane, James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond will all be hoping to make an impression.
Joe Hart is England’s most capped player in the squad having taking to the field 68 times for England, but it will be interesting to see how the Three Lions fair with a more youthful approach.
England face a very stern test on the 22 March as they face old rivals Germany at the Signal Iduna Park, before their World Cup qualifier against Lithuania four days later at Wembley.