England go head-to-head with Senegal in a World Cup round of 16 tie on Sunday evening.

The performance of Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden against Wales will fully test Gareth Southgate’s insistence that this England squad is a „meritocracy“, “where if I’ve played well, I’ve earned the right to go again”. Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka started the first two matches and have three goals between them already this winter.

In all likelihood, only two of England’s four immensely talented wingers will start against Senegal. It’s often described as a nice problem to have for a manager but does make selecting the XI (or predicting it) devilishly difficult.

With other positions in the team also up for grabs, here’s one option Southgate may plump for.

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GK: Jordan Pickford – In three group games, Pickford has kept more clean sheets (two) than he managed during the entirety of the 2018 World Cup (one).

RB: Kieran Trippier – The Newcastle fullback’s only goal for England came in the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia.

CB: John Stones – The safety-first approach to possession football employed by Southgate is evident from the lofty 96% passing success rate which Stones can boast.

CB: Harry Maguire – England’s much-maligned centre-back has had more touches in the opposition box than Harry Kane in Qatar.

LB: Luke Shaw – England’s most creative player in Euro 2020 again leads the team for chances created this winter (five).

CM: Declan Rice – The West Ham captain may be hinting at a move away from east London but there is little doubt that he will find his way into England’s midfield this weekend.

CM: Jude Bellingham – England’s prodigy had just turned 15 when the Three Lions went to the Russian World Cup.

AM: Mason Mount – Competing with the safer alternative of Jordan Henderson for a starting berth.

RW: Marcus Rashford – According to Southgate, Rashford is a „different version completely“ to the player that intermittently featured at Euro 2020.

ST: Harry Kane – Across his first three major tournaments for England, Kane didn’t provide a single assist. England’s skipper already has three in Qatar – though he is waiting for his first goal of the competition.

LW: Raheem Sterling – Southgate has started Sterling in all eight of the knockout matches he has been in charge of. To overlook the 27-year-old would represent a significant lapse in loyalty for a manager normally wedded to his key starters.

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Harry Symeou hosts Jack Gallagher and Toby Cudworth to look back on Germany ’06 as part of the ‚Our World Cup‘ series. We take a trip down memory lane – join us!

If you can’t see the podcast embed, click here to download or listen to the episode in full!