England call up four new caps for March friendlies

Four new faces join the Three Lions

Football News

England boss Gareth Southgate has made the move to call up four previously uncapped players as he takes a look at his squad in contests against the Netherlands on March 23rd and Italy on March 27th. These are not important friendly matches as Southgate tries to figure out who the 23 men are that he is going to be taking to the World Cup 2018 with him.

Burnley keeper Nick Pope gets rewarded for a great season between the sticks in the top flight, while teammate James Tarkowski also gets the nod. Joining them for the first time will be Swansea’s Alfie Mawson and Bournemouth Lewis Cook.

Betfair have rated Mawson at 7/2, Takowski 6/4 and Cook at 5/1 respectively* (betting odds taken on March 15th at 7:13 p.m.) to make it into the final England World Cup squad. Keeper Nick Pope has the best chance of the new call ups to actually get in those as Southgate will take three keepers and number one Joe Hart is in pretty bad form for West Ham.

Danny Welbeck comes into the squad to replace the injured Harry Kane so will get a good chance to make a push for a spot. Jack Wilshere also gets a recall while it is veteran Chelsea defender Gary Cahill who is the big name to be chopped from the squad.

England squad v Holland & Italy

Goalkeepers: J Hart, J Butland, J Pickford, N Pope

Defenders: K Walker, J Stones, H Maguire, K Trippier, D Rose, J Tarkowski, R Bertrand, A Young, J Gomez, A Mawson

Midfielders: E Dier, D Alli, J Lingard, L Cook, A Lallana, J Henderson, A Oxlade-Chamberlain, J Wilshere, J Livermore

Forwards: J Vardy, M Rashford, R Sterling, D Welbeck