England manager Gareth Southgate has announced his 23-man squad for World Cup 2018. His selection includes five players from Tottenham and four from each of the Manchester sides. Uncapped youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold, 19, will also be hopping on the plane to Russia following a breakout season for Liverpool.

"The first call-up for Trent Alexander-Arnold is well deserved," said Southgate. "When we pick young players, it's not just because they are young, it's because their performances deserve it." (BBC).

Hart and Wilshere among those who will miss out

Notable omissions include midfielder Jack Wilshere and goalkeeper Joe Hart. Wilshere has shown flashes of his previous brilliance this season, but a career marred by injury and inconsistency has forced Southgate to deem him too big a risk. What started as a promising international career for the 26-year-old Wilshere has not panned out that way.

As for Hart, despite being the first-choice goalkeeper in England's last three tournaments, he was loaned out to West Ham by Manchester City after failing to impress coach Pep Guardiola. To make matters worse, his performance continued to suffer and he was benched for the last games of the season.

It is expected that Everton's Jordan Pickford will be England's main goalkeeper, although Jack Butland from Stoke City will provide strong competition.

Southgate chooses youth over experience

The England squad taking the stage at the World Cup this year will be one with age very much on its side. Only three of the 23 players are over the age of 28 – the youngest being Alexander-Arnold. Gary Cahill, 32, leads the team in experience, racking up over fifty caps.

Former England forward Gary Linekar believes that this is an opportunity to prioritize the development of young players over attempting to win the competition.

In a BBC broadcast, Linekar said: “Just write it off, we haven’t realistically got a chance, you never know what might happen in tournament football, but we haven’t currently enough world-class players."

“You need half of your team to be world class to be favourites in a competition like this and we haven’t got that at the moment, but we will have that in four years and six years."

The full squad

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Kyle Walker, John Stones (Manchester City), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Jones, Ashley Young (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Eric Dier, Dele Alli (both Tottenham Hotspur), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).

Forwards: Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) Harry Kane (Tottenham).

Standby: Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski (Burnley), Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Jake Livermore (West Brom) and Adam Lallana (Liverpool).
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