Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins and West Ham United winger Jarrod Bowen both earn call-ups to the England squad for October’s fixtures with Australia and Italy.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins and West Ham United winger Jarrod Bowen have both earned call-ups to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for October’s fixtures with Australia and Italy.
The Three Lions will welcome Australia to Wembley for a friendly match on October 13, four days before resuming their Euro 2024 qualifying Group C campaign against Italy at the same venue.
Southgate has called up 26 players for the October double-header, including Villa marksman Watkins, who has been rewarded for his scintillating form over the past couple of weeks.
With Southgate in attendance at Villa Park, Watkins scored a hat-tick and provided an assist in a 6-1 thumping of Brighton & Hove Albion, as well as netting three goals in a Europa Conference League qualifying win over Hibernian.
The 27-year-old – who boasts seven caps for the Three Lions – was controversially omitted from September’s squad, but he is back in the ranks for the first time since March 2022.
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Meanwhile, West Ham attacker Bowen – who has scored five goals in seven Premier League games so far this season – makes the cut for just the second time, having earned his first England call-up for June’s Nations League fixtures last year.
The pair form a nine-strong attacking contingent for England, who have also called up Arsenal attacker Bukayo Saka, despite the fact that the 22-year-old suffered a hamstring injury against Lens in Tuesday’s Champions League clash.
Saka’s inclusion has raised hopes that he could be available for Arsenal’s Premier League tie with Manchester City on Sunday, but Southgate remained cautious, saying: “He’s still being assessed as they’ve obviously got a big game this weekend and then there’s another seven days before we play Australia and 10 days before we play Italy so everybody will monitor everything as we go forward.”
Saka, Bowen and Watkins are joined in the offensive ranks by Eddie Nketiah, who is still waiting for his first senior cap after his maiden call-up in September, but Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling has been overlooked again.
ENGLAND SQUAD IN FULL:
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Sam Johnstone (Crystal Palace)
Defenders: Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Jordan Henderson (Al-Ettifaq), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City), Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), James Maddison (Tottenham), Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
More to follow.