England squad announced, new interim manager has few surprises
Oct 3, 2016 at 12:43 PM
Gareth Southgate has announced his first England squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia.
The 46-year-old, who is currently in charge of the Three Lions on an interim basis following the unexpected dismissal of Sam Allardyce last week, hasn’t sprung too many big surprises with his first team.
Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard is handed a call-up, while Marcus Rashford also makes the list after missing out of Allardyce’s one and only squad against Slovakia last month.
Southgate selected Lingard for the England Under-21s at the 2015 European Championships and rates the 23-year-old highly.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is called up in place of the injured Liverpool winger Adam Lallana.
Oxlade-Chamberlain isn’t the only surprise call up.
Stoke City’s Glen Johnson, whose last appearance for England was against Uruguay at the 2014 World Cups finals, is included.
Joe Hart also retains his place in the England squad, despite his loan move to Torino from Manchester City.
Interim manager @GarethSouthgate has named a 23-man squad for the #ThreeLions‘ upcoming @FIFAWorldCup qualifiers: pic.twitter.com/0Tmk87mLAA
— England (@England) October 2, 2016
? @GarethSouthgate speaks to FATV after naming his first #ThreeLions squad: pic.twitter.com/9TTXJVIain
— England (@England) October 2, 2016
Southgate comes in the interim role after leading England under-21s since 2013 – who failed to get out of the group stages of the under-21s European Championships last year.
Before that, the former defender was in charge of Middlesbrough, who were relegated from the Premier League under his stewardship.