Gareth Southgate will assess the form of the Burnley centre-half Michael Keane, as well as the Crystal Palace wingers Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha on Saturday as he prepares to name his England squad for next Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland.
Southgate will be at Turf Moor for the Premier League game between the sides – the only match he is to attend this weekend – before confirming his party for the game at Wembley, and the friendly against Spain four days later, on Sunday evening. The interim manager drafted Keane into his squad for last month’s qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia as a replacement for the injured Glen Johnson, and the 23-year-old is expected to retain his place.
The Burnley defender, who attracted interest from Leicester City over the summer and continues to be monitored by Chelsea, would serve as backup to the first-choice pairing of John Stones and Gary Cahill but could earn a first cap against Spain. One of his club-mates, the in-form goalkeeper Tom Heaton, will also be watched by Southgate, who has spoken this week to the Palace manager, Alan Pardew, over the impact being made by Townsend and Zaha.
Townsend, a £13m signing from Newcastle over the summer having been omitted late from Roy Hodgson’s squad for Euro 2016, replaced the injured Raheem Sterling for last month’s games and provided a bright cameo from the bench in the goalless draw in Ljubljana. Although that would suggest he will be retained, the 25-year-old found himself relegated to the bench by Palace against Liverpool last weekend and he is likely to start there again at Turf Moor.
“We have such a close group in terms of their talent, sometimes they have to be left out for tactical reasons,” said Pardew on Townsend. “Andros accepted that as other players have accepted it and they will have to accept it going into this game and the next game. There has been absolutely no problem [with him]. With that England squad, there are a lot of players who are not starting for their club sides.”
More intriguing is Southgate’s interest in Zaha, a player with whom he had an occasionally difficult relationship while overseeing the under-21s. The winger gained the second of his two caps under Roy Hodgson in 2013 but has been out of favour ever since, despite his encouraging form last term. There had been suggestions the 23-year-old might consider representing the country of his birth, Ivory Coast, having played for England only in friendlies, though Southgate has made clear Zaha features on a list of players being considered.
“Obviously I know Gareth well, so we have had conversations about players and Wilf has come up, yes,” Pardew said. “I think Andros is pretty close [to the national squad], and I think Wilf Zaha is close as well. So we have two genuine chances, in my opinion, in the squad of having Crystal Palace players named. I think Zaha is playing some of his best football since he came back to the football club.”
Southgate watched Bournemouth’s Jack Wilshere, who has completed three top-flight games in a row, at the Riverside last weekend and has been impressed by the impact made by Middlesbrough’s Adam Forshaw and Ben Gibson. Danny Drinkwater, now restored to fitness, and Ross Barkley are also pushing for recalls to a squad that, barring a late flurry of injuries, is unlikely to show significant changes.
The interim manager will monitor Sunday’s five matches from St George’s Park, including the north London derby when Harry Kane will be included in the Tottenham Hotspur squad, before naming his squad. The players will link up at the national training centre on Monday afternoon to begin preparations for Friday’s qualifier against Scotland.
