Maguire, Chalobah must wait for cap chance
Uncapped Harry Maguire and Nathaniel Chalobah will start from the bench in Malta as England manager Gareth Southgate wants them to earn their spurs.
The Three Lions take on the side ranked 190th in the world tonight as they look to take another step closer to next summer’s World Cup.
Leicester defender Maguire and Watford midfielder Chalobah are the only uncapped members of the squad for the match in Malta, where Southgate plans to name a strong side.
“If the game plays out in a way that is positive for, maybe,” the England boss said. “But they won’t start.
“I think within the squad of players we’ve got, we’ve got real competition for places in every area of the field, so you have to earn the right to get in the squad, and earn the right to then get in the team.
“There is a bit of a process around that, getting used to how we work, but really pleased with the way both of them have adjusted and trained.”
Under-fire West Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart will start at the Ta’ Qali Stadium, but Tottenham defensive midfielder Eric Dier misses out through suspension.
Tottenham team-mate Kieran Trippier returned to his club yesterday because of injury. “Just Kieran Trippier had to go back to Tottenham,” Southgate, who lost ex-Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford earlier in the week, added. “He wasn’t able to train with us all week
“He might have had a chance for Monday (a Wembley qualifier against Slovakia), but we think it’s better to go back and recover properly. Everyone else is fit and available.”
It was against the Maltese that Southgate took charge of England for the first time, then on an interim basis following the messy departure of Sam Allardyce.
He presided over a scrappy 2-0 victory at Wembley, though the extenuating circumstances could be taken as mitigation.
Better will be expected this evening, but Southgate stressed that his reign is still in a relatively formative phase.
“We’ve had about 25 days with the players since I became permanent manager, which would be about 16 or 17 training sessions across a period of eight months,” added the former Middlesbrough manager.
“It’s not easy to bring an instant change, it’s going to take time to put some things in place. But I feel the players are a lot clearer about the direction we want to go.”
Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappe scored three goals between them in France’s crushing 4-0 victory over Holland in last night’s World Cup Group A qualifier. Lemar, tracked by Liverpool and Arsenal in the close season, scored twice after Antoine Griezmann’s firsthalf strike, the first of them a peach of a volley from the edge of the area.
The win took France three points clear of closest challengers Sweden in Group A. Ex-Sunderland midfielder Seb Larsson got on for the final 20 minutes of Sweden’s 3-2 loss to Bulgaria.