Gareth Southgate Names His England Squad – Jarrod Bowen And Ollie Watkins receive Call-Ups

Gareth Southgate has named his 26-man squad for England’s October fixtures. The Three Lions host Australia in a friendly before battling it out with Italy in the Euro qualifiers. 

Jarrod Bowen and Ollie Watkins both have been handed call ups by Southgate. The England manager was present during Aston Villa’s 6-1 hammering of Brighton in which Watkins bagged himself a hattrick.

A few surprise choices as always with a Southgate squad – Trent Alexander Arnold is named despite not starting for Liverpool since before the last international break in September. Bukayo Saka is also in the squad despite coming off injured for Arsenal in Wednesday night’s Champions League defeat.

Still no place for Raheem Sterling or James Ward-Prowse. Both have performed well for their clubs so far this season. Joe Gomez misses out despite doing exceptionally well in the absence of Alexander-Arnold. Nick Pope also misses out even though he’s conceded just one goal in the past six games for Newcastle.

Harry Maguire makes the squad. He has made just one start for Manchester United since the last international break and that came in a 3-0 win in the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace.

England fans have taken to social media to voice their opinion on the England squad:

“Remember when you had to perform to get a call-up,” wrote CFC Daily on X.

A Newcastle fan was in disbelief that Anthony Gordon missed out on the squad – “No Gordon?! What a joke”.

The general consensus on the internet from fans is they’re still sick of Southgate choosing favourites but over the moon with Bowen and Watkins call-ups.

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