Hart beating on Southgate’s door again
JOE HART has been tipped to make a return to Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
The Burnley goalkeeper made excellent saves from Kenneth Zohore and Josh Murphy to help Sean Dyche’s men to a crucial 2-1 win at Cardiff on Sunday.
Hart has 75 caps for his country, but has fallen out of favour at international level after spells on loan at Italian side Torino and West Ham.
Now he has a permanent home at Turf Moor after a £3.5m move last summer and the 31-year-old has hit the ground running.
Southgate names his England squad for games with Croatia and Spain on Thursday and Burnley midfielder Jack Cork said: “I sense Joe has got the motivation to get back to the top, the drive to play the big games with England and do well.
“You can see that by the way he’s loud, vocal, and I know he wants to play for a few more years yet.
“He’s been great since he joined us and has made some great saves. He had one against Bournemouth, which was one on one, and then a couple against Wolves. He had one or two at Cardiff and did well.
“Joe came out and punched a few good balls clear and tipped a couple around the post.
“When you have someone like him who is confident and playing well, you always know he’s going to help you.
“He’s enjoying being here and is involved in the game a lot. He’s doing very well.”
Hart represented England as their No.1 at two World Cups and two European Championships.
Cardiff fans taunted him with chants of “England’s No.4”, but the way he kept out Murphy’s curling effort with an acrobatic save late on was a fine response.