4 players we’d like to see Southgate start for the upcoming qualifiers

After Gareth Southgate picked his squad for England’s upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria a few days ago we looked through some of the included players and thought about some players that we would like Southgate to give starts to for the upcoming games.

Starting off our list we’ve got Chelsea’s Mason Mount who has really impressed us with his start to the season. The attacking midfielder has appeared in all of Chelsea’s Premier League games so far this season, scoring 4 goals and registering an assist while doing so. Unlike the other players in this list, this won’t be Mount’s first involvement in the England squad as he was part of the squad for England’s last qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo where he made his debut as a substitute in England’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria at Wembley. However, we believe after his impressive form at Chelsea that Mount should be starting the 2 upcoming qualifiers and give Southgate more midfield options for the 2020 Euros.

Despite only being included in England’s as a replacement for the injured Tom Heaton, we still believe that Dean Henderson deserves his involvement in Southgate’s squad and should be in contention to start in the upcoming qualifiers. The squad for the upcoming games against Czech Republic and Bulgaria is Henderson’s first call up for the senior team after being after being England’s first choice keeper during the UEFA Under-21 Championship last summer. Henderson has been instrumental in Sheffield United’s promotion to the Premier League and has currently kept 24 league clean sheets since the start of last season, which is more than any other keeper in England's top 4 leagues. Despite an unfortunate mistake against Liverpool, Henderson has adjusted well to the Premier League and finds himself with the joint highest number of clean sheets so far this season, and has more clean sheets than: David De Gea, Bernd Leno and Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Premier League this season.

After his controversial absence from England’s last squad against Bulgaria and Kosovo, Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham has been included in the England squad and will have the chance to make his competitive debut for England, with his only other England appearance coming in a friendly game against Brazil at Wembley. After Southgate previously left Abraham out of the squad, there was speculation regarding Abraham’s loyalties and whether he would opt to play for Nigeria over England, speculation which has reached its end with Abraham clearly proving his loyalty for England. Abraham’s talent has been visible for years after loan spells at Swansea and Villa, however, since the start of the season Abraham has shown that he is capable of showing similar form in the Premier League and currently finds himself as the 19/20 Premier League joint-top goalscorer with 8 goals in 8 games, as well as scoring 1 goal in 2 Champions League games for Chelsea.

A couple of months ago you’d be forgiven for not knowing who Fikayo Tomori was, but after the defenders impressive start to the season for Chelsea we believe that he has deserved his involvement in the squad and should be given a start by Southgate. Despite being born in and representing Canada at U20 level, Tomori has pledged his loyalty to England has has represented England at: U19, U20 and U21 level, and is in contention to make his debut for the senior team. Tomori spent last season on loan at Derby County under Frank Lampard, and after making 44 appearances for the club, he was named as their player of the year. Tomori made his first start for Chelsea against Sheffield United this season and scored an incredible long-range effort in Chelsea’s 5-2 win over Wolves. Tomori has appeared 8 times for Chelsea this season including both their Champions League games. He is far from an unfinished article, but we are interested to see how would do in Southgate’s squad.