Can Gareth Southgate bring football home? (Photo: Getty)
Gareth Southgate has suggested that Ivan Toney will finally make his England debut in the Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine.
England kicked off their qualifying campaign for next summer’s finals with a hard-fought 2-1 win at reigning champions Italy last Thursday, with Declan Rice and Harry Kane getting on the scoresheet.
But while their trickiest fixture has been successfully navigated, there is still no room for error with Ukraine likely to provide a tricky test at Wembley.
As a result, Southgate is expected to name a similar starting XI to the one that beat Italy – with the obvious exception being Kieran Trippier or Ben Chilwell coming in to replace the suspended Luke Shaw.
It also means that captain Harry Kane will surely be up front again with the Tottenham striker fresh of the high of becoming England’s all-time record goalscorer.
But, depending on how the match is going, Kane may not play for the full 90 minutes, with Southgate hinting that Brentford striker Toney is ready to play for the Three Lions.
‘Toney has been very good. We really like him and he is very much in our thoughts,’ the England manager said on Saturday.
Ivan Toney is yet to make his England debut (Photo: Getty)
‘The numbers [players] we’ve got with us now, there’s always the dual objective.
‘There’s the desire to see players, but we’re in a qualifying group so the priority is to always win the game first and foremost.’
After a record-breaking season in the Championship, Toney has established himself as one of the best strikers in the Premier League, with 31 goals in 64 games over the past two seasons.
Reece James has pulled put of the England squad with injury (Photo: Getty)
The 27-year-old was called up by his country for the first time last September but did not make it onto the pitch, and he was somewhat controversially left out for the 2022 World Cup, with Newcastle’s Callum Wilson selected instead.
In other team news, Chelsea’s Reece James has pulled out of the squad with a hamstring injury but Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is now fit to play after suffering with illness.
‘Henderson hadn’t trained much the previous week with Liverpool because of an illness, but he’s good to go now,’ Southgate added.
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‘[Kalvin] Phillips and [Jude] Bellingham are all good. Clearly with Kalvin, he played his first 90 minutes for a little while against Italy, so we’ll have to assess freshness, but that’s the same as the whole group.
‘We’ve got to get the balance right with continuity and consistency, but also freshness.’
MORE : Harry Maguire says not winning Euro 2024 would be a failure for England
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The road to Euro 2024 continues…