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Gareth Southgate Set To Drop England Star From World Cup Squad

Gareth Southgate Set To Drop England Star From World Cup Squad

The England manager has some big decisions to make ahead of his summer trip to Russia and one player could already be set for the chop.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Does it really matter who Gareth Southgate takes to Russia this summer? After all won't England just fail as usual? One big name is already in major danger of losing his spot on the plane to the World Cup.

There was a time, between 1998 and 2006, when World Cups and Euros gave England some hope. Sure the much vaunted 'Golden Generation' didn't give us much but they gave us much more than anything since.

Check out our video on Gazza's top England XI:

Now we live in an age where a loss to Iceland in the second round of the Euros, whilst still embarrassing, wasn't exactly a shock to the system- by now we're programmed to accept failure.

Now Roy Hodgson is out of the picture on Sam Allardyce also gone very quickly it falls to Gareth Southgate to break England out of the banter era they've been perpetually been in since he himself missed a penalty at Euro 96.

With every passing performance people will now be saying 'get him on the plane' or 'he shouldn't be going to Russia' and Southgate has to decide who plays themselves in and out of the team. According to the Times one big name has potentially played himself out of contention in the shape of Gary Cahill.

Cahill has been a regular for England. Image: PA Images.
Cahill has been a regular for England. Image: PA Images.

Cahill was dropped by Chelsea for their Champions League game against Barcelona on Tuesday and the Blues defence played extremely well without him, with Anders Christiansen's only mistake leading to Barca's goal.

The Chelsea captain has featured for Southgate in all seven of his competitive fixtures as England manager, the last seven games of the World Cup qualifying campaign after Allardyce's one, and captained the Three Lions against Germany.

However the 32 year old's form all season hasn't been consistent and even with the team looking likely to set up in a 5-3-2 there is questions over his place in the squad.

Cahill, Joe Hart and Dele Alli after the Iceland disaster. Image: PA Images.
Cahill, Joe Hart and Dele Alli after the Iceland disaster. Image: PA Images.

John Stones, Phil Jones and Harry Maguire have all gone ahead of him whilst Joe Gomez also started the game against Brazil in November and was impressive on debut.

It's been reported that Southgate is also considering using Eric Dier as a central defender and clearly likes the idea of his centre backs being able to play out from the back.

There's a lot to mull over for Southgate and a lot for Cahill to do to make sure he makes it to Russia.

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Topics: Football News, Russia 2018, Chelsea, Gary Cahill, England, Gareth Southgate, World Cup