Provisional World Cup squads are expected this week, and Gareth Southgate – despite a few late injury headaches – is likely to have already nailed down the majority of his England group.
There do remain some question marks, however, and perhaps none are more prominent than in attack, where Harry Kane is the established starter but the role of back-up has been shared among an ever-changing cast.
Since Russia 2018, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ollie Watkins, Callum Wilson and Danny Ings have all played and scored for England. But either form or fitness has deserted each of them.
That would appear to leave three contenders in Tammy Abraham, whose Roma place is no longer assured, Ivan Toney, the recent call-up yet to make his international debut, and Marcus Rashford.
Abraham and Toney were each included in Southgate's latest England squad, although neither featured in games against Italy and Germany where the Three Lions needed goals. Meanwhile, injury robbed Rashford of the opportunity to re-establish himself in the group.
At one stage, Rashford was assured of his place in every international squad, if not necessarily every team.
The Manchester United man has earned 46 caps for England, and all but three of those have come since Southgate's September 2016 appointment.
However, for all those accusations of Southgate defying club form to pick his 'favourites', Rashford has been punished for below-par displays for United, having scored a measly five goals in 32 games last season.
Rashford's last action for England was his missed penalty in the Euro 2020 final against Italy after appearing as a substitute for the final minute of extra time at Wembley. He has not started for his country since before that tournament.
But the 24-year-old has rediscovered something approaching his best form this season, netting five goals and assisting three in 11 matches for United. Rashford is far outperforming Abraham (two goals and one assist in 13 matches) in that regard, although he still trails flavour-of-the-month Toney (eight goals and three assists in 11 matches).
Toney's case is clear then – except Southgate is not looking for a forward to come in and lead the line against Iran on November 21.
Only Jordan Pickford (14 starts, 1,380 minutes) and John Stones (14 starts, 1,324 minutes) have started more matches or played more minutes for Southgate at major tournaments than Kane (13 starts, 1,222 minutes).
Assuming no injury to Kane that would alter the entire conversation, Rashford is auditioning for the position of primary attacking reinforcement – one he has filled twice for Southgate in the past.
Across the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020, no England player made more appearances (10) or played more minutes (205) as a substitute than Rashford.
In 63 minutes from the bench for United this season, Rashford has scored two goals and assisted another. Abraham has yet to contribute to a goal in 91 such minutes for Roma, while Toney has a sole assist in 18 minutes.
As illness reduced Rashford to a substitute role against Newcastle United on Sunday, he showed how dangerous his hard running can prove late in matches.
Both he and Fred passed up huge chances, but only Casemiro (0.45 – 0.01 xG, 0.44 xA) produced more combined expected goals and expected assists in the whole match than Rashford (0.43 – 0.31 xG, 0.12 xA) did in an 18-minute cameo against the Premier League's meanest defence.
On that occasion, Rashford was appearing, as he would in place of Kane, as a centre-forward after being brought on for Cristiano Ronaldo. But his versatility is a key attribute Toney does not possess.
For United this season, five of Rashford's nine starts have come as a lone striker, with the other four as a left-sided winger.
Longer term, his starts through the middle have been far less regular. Rashford's 21 England starts have included 10 from the left, three from the right and eight as a central striker. Of those eight, seven have been as part of a forward pair.
His sole appearance in a Three Lions line-up in the sort of role Kane is used to was in a 3-1 Nations League Finals defeat to the Netherlands, in which Rashford was replaced by Kane at half-time after opening the scoring.
If England are in need of a spark in Qatar – whether from the start or as a substitute – Southgate is likely to turn to a player who can complement Kane rather than replace him, perhaps explaining the watching briefs for Abraham and Toney in September.
Importantly, Rashford has previously supported Kane to good effect, most notably in a 3-2 win against Spain in October 2018, when Kane teed up Rashford for the second goal and the pair each provided a further assist for Raheem Sterling, who is also set to start again at the World Cup.
As Kane and Tottenham visit Old Trafford on Wednesday for the pick of the midweek Premier League action, Rashford will no doubt hope to be restored to the United XI ahead of Ronaldo.
But were he to instead play from the left or come on for the veteran forward later in the match, the England hopeful might provide Southgate a more accurate representation of what he could expect if selected next month.
Skriniar hails PSG team-mates Mbappe and Dembele as best in the world
Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele were hailed as two of the best players in the world right now by Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Milan Skriniar after their starring roles in a 4-1 triumph over Lorient.
The duo were each on target twice at the Stade du Moustoir in Wednesday's contest as Luis Enrique's men took another step closer to the Ligue 1 title.
Speaking to RMC Sport, centre-back Skriniar had high praise for PSG's superstar duo after a game where he felt the team were not at their best.
"I don't think it was our best performance, because at 2-0, we could have controlled the match better," he said.
"We lost too many easy balls but we know that up front we are very strong. I think we have the two best players in the world [Mbappe and Dembele] at the moment so we are happy for the victory.
"For me, they are the two best players in the world. We know their qualities, they help always the team with their goals, with their actions, with everything they do.
"It's easy to play with them."
PSG are not quite over the line in Ligue 1 yet as second-placed Monaco defeated Lille 1-0 later on Wednesday.
It means PSG are 11 points clear of their rivals with only four games remaining and the title will be theirs with victory over Le Havre at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
Carragher says Liverpool may need to move on from Salah and Nunez
Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool's next manager has a big decision to make regarding Mohamed Salah's future, adding the Reds definitely need to move on from Darwin Nunez.
Liverpool's title hopes suffered a potentially fatal blow at Goodison Park on Wednesday, as goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin handed Everton a memorable 2-0 win.
The defeat – Liverpool's first at Goodison since 2010 – means they are three points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal and one clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand.
Jurgen Klopp now looks likely to end his final season at the helm with just February's EFL Cup triumph to show for his efforts, with Carragher declaring Liverpool's title hopes to be over on Wednesday.
He also believes Klopp's successor – which could be Feyenoord's Arne Slot if reports are to be believed – may need to shake up Liverpool's frontline.
"Mo Salah is Liverpool's goalscorer and he's gone off the boil. That's shone a light on others," Carragher told Sky Sports.
"There is a real discussion for the new manager about what the future holds for Mo Salah – it's the first time we've asked that question. He only has a year to go on his deal.
"He's looked a shadow of himself for a lot of this season but especially since he's come back from injury. He is Liverpool's legend, superstar, one of the all-time greats, but he's been so far off it."
Salah has 17 Premier League goals this season, but 14 of those came before he went to the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt in January.
Prior to that tournament, Salah boasted a shot conversion rate of 21.54 per cent for 2023-24, netting with 14 of his 65 total attempts in the competition. Since returning, he has only converted 8.57 per cent of his 35 efforts.
Salah's strike partner Nunez has also come in for criticism, with only Erling Haaland (30) missing more big chances than the Uruguayan's 26 this term. Haaland has, however, converted 34.78 per cent of his big chances to Nunez's 18.75 per cent.
Carragher does not believe Nunez is capable of further improvement after two up-and-down campaigns on Merseyside, saying: "I think I'm at the stage with Nunez where I'm not sure there's a question to ask.
"You want him to do well because he gives everything, he causes trouble, he gets the odd goal.
"But after two years, when Liverpool are going for the title or in big games, you need your man to score at Old Trafford or at Goodison Park. This is the business end, the time to win.
"He's ground to a halt. After two years there's going to be no improvement in him. This is what he is.
"He can cause trouble but he's erratic with his finishing – it's not enough to win you trophies so there's a big decision to be made on him. It's not acceptable when you're going for a title."
Guardiola insists Man City share same title hunger as challengers
Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City share the same hunger to lift the Premier League trophy as their title rivals, warning perfection may still be needed for the champions to retain their crown.
It has been a mixed week for City's rivals thus far, with Arsenal thrashing Chelsea 5-0 on Tuesday before Liverpool suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat in Wednesday's Merseyside derby at Everton.
Those results mean the Gunners sit four points clear of City and Liverpool lead the champions by one, but with two games in hand, the title race is still very much in City's hands.
They go to Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday before facing Nottingham Forest on Sunday, and Guardiola still thinks even the slightest slip-up could prove costly.
Asked whether City need to win their six remaining games to win the title, Guardiola said: "Yes, absolutely. They gave us a chance, with the fact they lost last week to Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
"But we knew what we had to do before those games, and now we have to win all games so that at the end, we have it in our hands to retain our title.
"Nothing changes. The fact is, we knew what we had to do before, and now nothing has changed."
Guardiola was then asked whether City are as motivated to win the title as their rivals, having lifted the trophy in five of their seven seasons under him to date.
He said: "I would not be here [if not]. There are so many games, and to be in this position after what we have done in the past, it would not be possible [without the desire].
"We know the difficulty is extreme, and it will remain difficult because we have tough games coming up. We go one game at a time, and we know that if we lose, it will be so tough to retain the title.
"Last Saturday proved the many difficulties we have, especially the schedule and recovery time after the game against [Real] Madrid. The players were unbelievable."
Guardiola hit out at the busy nature of the schedule after Saturday's FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea, saying he couldn't understand how his players had managed to perform just three days after their penalty shoot-out defeat to Madrid.
Those comments have sparked renewed debate about the football calendar, and Guardiola was asked whether elite clubs had a right to complain while organising money-spinning pre-season tours around the globe.
"Yeah, but we have to do it," he said. "We have to pay the salaries of the players and the manager, and the club has fans all around the world who want to see us. They are an income for us.
"It's not easy, but we have to get resources. I would love to say don't go to another continent to play, have another week of holiday, and then train here. But we have to understand the club.
"It's not just Man City. Every club needs those financial resources to be sustainable. Now that we've won a lot, for many years, we have a lot of supporters. That's why it's necessary to do, and you have to adapt.
"But that is not the reason why [he complained]. The reason is that the schedule is so tight. I'm sorry, it's not."
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