England exiles face battle to win spots back, says Southgate

London: Gareth Southgate said Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho face a battle to win their spots back after the England manager was impressed by the performance of the experimental side he fielded in Thursday’s 3-0 victory against Wales.

Abraham, Chilwell and Sancho missed the friendly at Wembley Stadium after they breached COVID-19 regulations at the weekend.

In their absence, Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Conor Coady and Southampton striker Danny Ings scored their first international goals, while Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka also impressed on their first England starts.

“That is the really big lesson for anybody in that situation, really,” Southgate said. “You want to be involved, you want to be playing.

“When you have got the shirt, or a place in the squad, you don’t want to allow other people the opportunity to take it.

“Whenever we give debuts ... there is an opportunity for them to push themselves up the pecking order a bit. Several did that. It is lovely to see young players come in and flourish.”

England face Belgium in the Nations League on Sunday followed by Denmark on Wednesday.

It was an encouraging display as the least experienced Three Lions team in 44 years, with a total of 54 caps, gave him some food for thought.

Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish provided the assist for Calvert-Lewin’s goal and was a lively presence in his first England start.

“His work with the ball was very good. We know he draws those fouls, he’s comfortable receiving the ball in tight areas and again it was a debut he could be really pleased with,” Southgate said.

Arsenal teenager Bukayo Saka lined up at left wing-back and the debutant gradually grew into the game, while Nick Pope replaced error-prone Jordan Pickford in goal and produced a composed display.

“I thought the players did very well. It’s so difficult for a new team to come together without much experience,” Southgate said.

“It was not fluid at the start but we got more and more into the game, the players saw the tactical problems Wales posed to us when they were pressing and I thought we finished strongly.”

Isak, Johansson score as Sweden beat Russia in Moscow friendly:  A headed goal by Alexander Isak and a first international strike by Mattias Johansson earned Sweden a comfortable 2-1 win over Russia in a friendly on Thursday.

Seeking to avenge their 2-0 defeat in Stockholm in 2018 that saw the Swedes promoted to UEFA Nations League Group A ahead of them, the Russians piled the pressure on early, and Anton Miranchuk came close to breaking the deadlock in the 17th minute with a shot that thumped off the crossbar.

That miss was to prove costly four minutes later when Sweden were awarded a free kick in the centre of the pitch, and Isak ghosted into the space between defender Ilya Kutepov and goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev to head home.

With Nations League games against Croatia and Portugal next week, Sweden coach Janne Andersson fielded an experimental line-up, giving central defender Carl Starfelt, who plays for Russian club Rubin Kaxan, his first cap.

Agencies