Henderson or Dier? The last big question facing Southgate before England head off to Russia

Liverpool captain likely to face Costa Rica Alexander-arnold to make debut tonight

Fresh from missing out on the England captaincy and losing the Champions League final, Jordan Henderson’s World Cup starting place is now on the line. The midfielder was told Harry Kane had been handed the World Cup armband four days before Liverpool lost to Real Madrid in Kiev and also faces the threat of losing his England place to Eric Dier.

Ahead of England’s final warmup game against Costa Rica at Elland Road tonight, Gareth Southgate has admitted for the first time that he is unlikely to start with both Dier and Henderson in Russia.

Southgate has moved towards playing with only one holding midfielder, having been criticised for starting with both Dier and Henderson during qualifying.

Dier started the victory over Nigeria at Wembley and Henderson is likely to be given his chance to impress against the Costa Ricans.

Asked whether one of his biggest decisions in Russia would be to choose between Henderson and Dier, Southgate replied: “We have to look at that. We will always want to play with one pivot. Henderson can play as a No8, Dier can play as a centre-back. They both have a different way into the team.

“No [they haven’t played in those positions under me], but that’s not an unrealistic possibility for Henderson to play as a No8. He’s done that most of his career. Liverpool didn’t have many options. It is a key decision, but that’s management. You either select players, or you choose your system and the best people to fit into it. They’re the tough calls. I’d be amazed if the two of them aren’t important figures during the tournament, but there is clearly the possibility they might not both play in every match.”

Southgate was also cold on the idea of Jamie Vardy, who is expected to start tonight, partnering Harry Kane, despite the fact the pair scored 50 Premier League goals between them this season.

“We’ve looked at that at times in training,” said Southgate. “At the moment we’ve not gone with it. We had Harry with Raheem [Sterling] – we liked the look of that – but they [Kane and Vardy] could play

‘We always want to play with a pivot. Both have a different way into the team’

together. That would be different, though, because Vardy’s strength is running behind teams and not coming short. You’d have to have Harry coming short.”

On the prospect of playing two out-and-out strikers, he said: “It depends upon how you want your two to look. We always need a link. What I liked about last Saturday was Sterling dropped deep and [Dele] Alli ran past him, Kane dropped deep and [Jesse] Lingard ran past him. There was fluidity of movement. We do have different options. Who knows what problem we might have to solve or what defence we have to unpick? We have to be ready.”

Southgate insisted World Cup places were still up for grabs and confirmed 19-year-old Trent Alexander-arnold would be handed his debut. “I have a lot of people going, they went to Wembley for Nigeria as well, it would be a dream come true,” said Alexander-arnold. “To play for your country at a young age was the target and dream. Hopefully, it might come true.”

Boredom has been a major complaint from players of the past two World Cups. Southgate described fears over player boredom as “nonsense” in front of the television cameras, but articulated himself better later on. “We’ve broken up the pre-camps. If we’d been together for too long and there weren’t enough things to stimulate the players, boredom could have been an issue.

“But there are moments as an athlete where your world is train, recover, game. It’s not just all about entertainment. The lads are going to enjoy being together.”