By Honest assessment of Spurs’ defeat at Newcastle at the weekend. He admits he is not a happy substitute but his assist for the equaliser against Belgium shows how good he can be off the bench. After making his return to the England team last year, his move to Tottenham worked perfectly. It was only injury that put a spanner in the works. But he has done enough to warrant a place.
Cole Palmer
Contrast the Chelsea forward’s cool finishes in the big moments of the 4-3 win over Manchester United with the work of Marcus Rashford when he came off the bench as fresh legs. Palmer is rising to every occasion since leaving Chelsea and is commanding a place on the plane to Germany.
Anthony Gordon
Another fine performance against Tottenham this weekend. It could well be Gordon, Conor Gallagher or Eberechi Eze occupying a sort of ‘wild-card’ spot in the squad. Gallagher is an excellent tourist and has been playing well, while Eze has the X-factor that he showed at Anfield, but Gordon played very well against Brazil and it was enough for Southgate to have another look against Belgium.
Ivan Toney
His penalty-taking ability could be needed in the knockout stage, for starters. Showed what a good spot-kick taker he is with the first equaliser against Belgium, which came on his first England start. He has slipped back into the Brentford team like he never left after serving a ban for betting-rule breaches.
Ollie Watkins
His goal against Arsenal was another example of why two back-up strikers for Kane, who is guaranteed to start, should be taken. Watkins deserves his place on merit and on sheer weight of goals this season, even if it means a wide player such as Jarrod Bowen misses out. He scored another two against his former club Brentford at the weekend.
