England boss Gareth Southgate looks set to make a host of changes for tonight's final World Cup qualifying fixture - with Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale expected to start in place of Jordan Pickford.
Everton No. 1 Pickford kept another clean sheet as England beat Albania 5-0 on Friday as England moved within one point of qualifying for Qatar 2022.
But Southgate looks set to hand Ramsdale the keeper's gloves for this evening's clash with San Marino at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle.
Ramsdale joined Arsenal from Sheffield United in the summer and has quickly been labelled as one of the purchases of the season so far due to his impressive start with the club.
From all the keepers who have started five or more Premier League matches, his tally of four league goals against is the joint-lowest in the division along with Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy.
Pickford, in contrast, has conceded 13 league goals, adding ammunition to a growing portion of the media calling for Ramsdale to overtake the Everton man as England’s number one.
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When questioned about the subject at the start of the international break, Southgate admitted there was a ‘fight on’ between the two rivals.
He said: "We were impressed with what he (Ramsdale) did in the summer and he has started very well with Arsenal. At this stage of the season it's still quite a small sample of games but we're really pleased with what he's doing and the way he's playing, and his distribution with his feet is a particular bonus of the way that they play at Arsenal and the skill set that he's got.
"So I think there's a fight on. We've got competition for places and we need competition places in every position. Aaron is definitely providing that to Jordan."
Whilst Ramsdale has been in form, there’s a sense of recency bias that seems to be driving talk of Pickford losing his position within the England side.
After all, the Everton shot-stopper has rarely put a foot wrong in an England shirt, even when enduring inconsistent spells of form at Goodison Park.
Yet even so, conceding three times the number of goals his rival has so far this season isn’t a good look. But then this is why simply looking goals against, or clean sheets secured, isn’t the best way in which to measure a keeper’s overall shot-stopping abilities.
Ahead of this weekend, Pickford had faced 39 shots on his goal. Ramsdale, though, has faced just 29. Furthermore, Pickford’s xG-against per shot average of 0.32 is much higher than Ramsdale’s of 0.22.
What the latter means is that based on shot quality, those efforts against Pickford have been much better and therefore tougher to save when compared to Ramsdale’s.
This highlights how the numbers of the two is heavily impacted by the overall performances of team-mates ahead of them.
Arsenal have picked up more points than any Premier League side across the past eight gameweeks, whilst in contrast, only seven teams have picked up fewer than Everton.
You’d hope Southgate and his team would take the above into consideration when examining the credentials of both players, and maybe they do.
Yet the wider media won’t, which will be one of the reasons Ramsdale will continue to be popularised whilst he continues to play for one of the league’s most in-form sides.
