Which players should make up England's attack?

After scoring 9 goals in their last 2 Euro 2020 qualifiers, England’s attack is continuing to impress as they get one step closer to qualifying for the tournament. There has been a lot of controversy and different opinions regarding the England squad since Gareth Southgate picked his squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo, with his decisions to include Callum Wilson and to not include Tammy Abraham receiving the majority of the controversy. After scoring 9 goals in those 2 qualifiers, England’s attack is continuing to receive most of the attention as they get one step closer to qualifying for the tournament. With the likes of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho competing to be in England’s front 3, we’re going to look at who should make up England’s front 3 for the rest of the qualifiers and the tournament itself next year.

I’m fairly certain it doesn’t need to be said but with his impressive record for both club and country, Harry Kane needs to be England’s starting striker for the remainder of the Euro 2020 qualifiers and finals. Having scored 25 goals in 40 appearances for England including 6 goals in the 2018 World Cup and 4 goals in his last 2 appearances, it’s a no brainer.

Another fairly easy decision is to start Raheem Sterling on the left side of England’s attack. In his early days at Liverpool it was clear that Sterling possessed huge amounts of talent and after a somewhat decent start to life at Manchester City, but after the arrival of Pep Guardiola Sterling has reached another level and has established himself as one of the best attackers in the world. Similar to Kane, Sterling’s record for club and country is brilliant, scoring 17 goals and assisting 10 goals for City during the 18/19 season, as well as registering 2 goals and 3 assists in England’s recent qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo. The flexibility that Sterling brings is also incredibly beneficial for Gareth Southgate as he is comfortable to play on either side of the striker to meet the needs of his manager and has done so on multiple occasions for both City and England, a quality that many other players don’t possess.

Right-wing isn’t as set in stone as the other 2 positions with both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho providing Gareth Southgate with a selection headache. After considering both players Sancho should be England’s starting right-winger, with one reason being his impressive start to international football as he scored 2 goals in England’s 5-3 win against Kosovo. Sancho’s impressive record for Borussia Dortmund also plays a key role in his selection where he was involved in 33 goals as he registered 13 goals and 20 assists in all competitions for Dortmund during the 18/19 season, which is 10 more goals than Rashford was involved in (with Rashford playing 3 more games)

Despite opting for Sancho to start over rashford we still think that Rashford could play a big role in England’s remaining qualifiers as well as the finals next year. Since breaking through into the first team Marcus Rashford has constantly been improving and has cemented himself in Manchester United’s starting 11 under both Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Similar to Sterling and Sancho, Rashford is an incredibly versatile player as he can play on either wing, but he can also if needed play up front for England as that’s where he’s played most of his minutes at United this season so far. So if something were to happen to Kane whether it be during or in between games, Rashford is more than capable of stepping in if needed.