England call-up for Wilshere
JACK Wilshere has been handed an england recall for Friday’s crucial World Cup qualifier against scotland. The Arsenal midfielder, who is on loan at Bournemouth, had been left out of the squad since euro 2016, but interim manager Gareth southgate named him in a 25-man party to face Gordon strachan’s side at Wembley on Friday and the friendly against spain four days later.
Wilshere was not included by sam Allardyce for his one and only game in charge against slovakia in september, and southgate left out the 24-year-old for last month’s qualifiers against Malta and slovenia amid concerns over his fitness. But Wilshere’s decision to leave the emirates in search of regular game time has paid dividends.
southgate said: ‘Jack Wilshere is a player who we feel has a lot of class and has now started to get more 90 minutes under his belt. You’re looking at players you feel have the ability to play in an england shirt, and Jack definitely has that.’
Tottenham striker harry Kane, who missed the games against Malta and slovenia with an ankle injury, has also been recalled by southgate, who made personal visits to a number of his players ahead of announcing his squad.
Kane scored a penalty in the 1-1 draw at Arsenal, his first appearance in seven weeks. Despite his lack of game time southgate has selected the 23-year-old, saying: ‘Tottenham have been very helpful in terms of harry’s availability and keeping us informed of where he’s at, so i’m grateful to Mauricio Pochettino.
‘harry’s a proven goalscorer at every level. Obviously he’s at an early stage of coming back from quite a long injury but we saw today the desire he has and the knack of being in the right place at the right time.’ southgate’s four-game stint at the helm is due to end after Friday’s World Cup qualifier against the scots and the prestige friendly that follows four days later, meaning this could be his final time in charge of the national squad.
But the bookmakers make him favourite to continue in a permanent capacity and good results in the coming days would help him build a compelling case.
raheem sterling, Adam lallana, Danny Drinkwater and Nathaniel Clyne have also been recalled after missing out through injury last time, while Burnley defender Michael Keane keeps his place ahead of Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson.
however, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Michail Antonio have been dropped, while Chris smalling and luke shaw also miss out as concerns emerged over the Manchester United duo’s fitness yesterday. everton’s ross Barkley is also overlooked.
Dele Alli is ruled out because of a knee injury but his Tottenham colleague Kyle Walker is fit enough to report to st George’s Park today — despite an ankle injury scare during the North london derby.