The shallow pool: Every uncapped England starter
These are the 41 English players who started in the Premier League last weekend who have yet to earn an international cap. Gareth has an eye on you. Well, some of you…
Goalkeepers
Jordan Pickford (Everton): A dead cert.
Nick Pope (Burnley): Similar to Pickford, Pope has certainly put in the hard yards to get to the Premier League, but he has an England keeper to shift at club level first.
Full-backs:
Tommy Smith (Huddersfield): Right-back, 25, who was made Town captain ahead of their first season in the Premier League. Had 10 assists and scored four goals last year.
Adam Smith (Bournemouth): Right-back has become a Cherries stalwart having represented England at every level from Under-16s through to Under-21s.
Charlie Daniels (Bournemouth): Having climbed through the Football League to become a Premier League regular, at 31, international recognition would likely be a step too far.
Danny Simpson (Leicester): ‘Can’t do anymore lol’. That was Simpson’s reaction this time last year when he was overlooked by Glen Johnson, so the right-back will have to make do with a Premier League title medal rather than international honours.
Joel Ward (Crystal Palace): Frank de Boer didn’t rate him and Southgate is unlikely to fancy the right-back much more, especially if the England boss saw what Marcus Rashford did to him at the weekend.
Craig Dawson (West Brom): Solid, as you would expect from a Tony Pulis favourite, but as a centre-back filling in at right-back, an international call is never likely to come.
Kyle Naughton (Swansea): The international ship has probably sailed for the 28-year-old ex-Under-21. Unless Republic of Ireland come calling.
Joe Gomez (Liverpool): Would probably already be capped if not for his serious knee injury.
Matt Lowton (Burnley): Solid for Sean Dyche but that’s unlikely to be enough to catch Southgate’s eye, especially at 28.
Centre-backs:
Simon Francis (Bournemouth): Join Storey on the Francis for England train. All aboard…
Harry Maguire (Leicester): When, not if…
Alfie Mawson (Swansea): As above.
Rob Holding (Arsenal): Part of the Under-21s squad in the summer and a senior squad call-up is unlikely to be too far away.
Lewis Dunk (Brighton): Finding his feet in the Premier League is a far greater priority.
Jamaal Lascelles (Newcastle): A possible, rather than a probable, but that will change if he remains consistent through the rest of the season.
James Tarkowski (Burnley): The 24-year-old has made Burnley forget all about Michael Keane. Needs to maintain his form, though.
Ben Mee (Burnley): “I look at the squad and I don’t see any left-sided centre-halves in or around the Premier League who are English,” he said before the clean sheet at Everton. Everyone loves an optimist.
Central midfielders:
Harry Winks (Tottenham): The inspiration behind this very list.
Jonathan Hogg (Huddersfield): Three Premier League appearances for the Terriers after more than six seasons in the Championship. Towards the back of the queue…
Lewis Cook (Bournemouth): The first England captain to lift a World Cup since Bobby Moore having represented England at every level from Under-16s to Under-21s. Gareth Southgate will be watching closely.
Andrew Surman (Bournemouth): Capped at Under-21 level but the Johannesburg-born 31-year-old is probably more likely to represent South Africa than England at senior level.
Mark Noble (West Ham): Continually snubbed by England, even under Sam Allardyce, and that’s not going to change.
Leon Britton (Swansea): At 35? No.
Tom Carroll (Swansea): Capped 17 times at Under-21 level but the 25-year-old’s most pressing concern is establishing himself in the Premier League.
Dale Stephens (Brighton): Stranger things have happened. Not many, mind…
Jack Cork (Burnley): Having being capped at every youth level up to Under-21s and been involved in the Great Britain Olympic squad in 2012, a senior call-up was the natural next step. At 28, though, the £10million recruit would be wise to focus on Burnley for now.
Attacking midfielders:
Tom Ince (Huddersfield): Ruling himself out of contention for the England Under-21s did his cause no good whatsoever.
Junior Stanislas (Bournemouth): “I’m half St Lucian so I could play internationals for them if I wanted… but I don’t.” You might as well, Junior…
Marc Pugh (Bournemouth): Rose from League One to the Premier League with Bournemouth and has scored in the top five divisions of the English football pyramid. He’ll be happy enough with that…
Marc Albrighton (Leicester): If the call hasn’t come by now, it’s never going to.
Demarai Gray (Leicester): Southgate likes the Leicester winger from their time working together with the Under-21s, where he is just fine for now.
Jason Puncheon (Crystal Palace): Alan Pardew said international honours were long overdue for Puncheon but it’s too late now for the 32-year-old.
Michail Antonio (West Ham): Has come tantalisingly close to a cap having been involved in a couple of squads over the last year but his chance may have gone.
Solly March (Brighton): Had to pull out of the Under-21s squad for the Euros this summer due to injury. Southgate gave the 23-year-old a debut at that level and will no doubt be watching.
Forwards:
Saido Berahino (Stoke): The Burundi-born striker was called up to the senior squad by Roy Hodgson in 2014, but having not scored a goal in almost 600 days, a cap has never seemed further away.
Troy Deeney (Watford): “I think if certain players had played as many games as I have or even scored as much as I’ve done they’d be in the team. If Andy Carroll had scored as many goals as me, he’d be in the England team.” Yup.
Tammy Abraham (Swansea): Has so far resisted the temptation of switching allegiance to Nigeria, but if Southgate has him in mind for the future, then don’t be surprised to see the young Chelsea loanee in a senior squad sometime very soon.
Izzy Brown (Brighton): Play a few games at Under-21 level, then we’ll talk.
Ian Watson: Waiting by the phone for Gareth’s call.