England manager Roy Hodgson has given the clearest indication yet that he has decided on the make-up of his World Cup squad.
Hodgson was at St Mary’s on Saturday to watch his internationals compete in Southampton’s 2-0 Premier League victory over Everton.
Saints skipper Adam Lallana, left-back Luke Shaw and striker Rickie Lambert will hope to be on the plane to Brazil alongside Everton full-back Leighton Baines and Toffees captain Phil Jagielka, who missed the trip to the south coast due to a troublesome hamstring injury.
Young midfielder Ross Barkley could miss out on selection, though, after the England boss told FIFA’s official website that he would base selection on players’ form over the past “two years”.
Hodgson said: “I’ve had a very clear idea of what I want to do with this squad for a long, long time. Certainly over the last couple of weeks I’m pretty much sure of what I want to do when it comes to the team.
“I’m rather hoping we don’t get any more examples like we had with Jay Rodriguez. He damaged his cruciate ligament in a game where I was actually watching from the stands. You hope that’s not going to happen again.
“But there’s no point being nervous or worried about that because it’s totally outside of your control.”
Hodgson must submit a list of up to 30 potential squad members by May 13, with his final 23 names sent to FIFA by June 2.
England face Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in the group stage and Hodgson added: “All I can do is be really clear in my mind with what I want to do as a squad and which players I want to take.
“Nothing that happens in the last four games, in terms of form, is going to affect me. I don’t judge players on their last-minute form over two or three games. I’m judging them over two years.
“If anyone new on the scene has emerged I’m judging him over several months. I’m not going to make decisions in the last week or two of the season, which is a notoriously bad time to judge talent.
“I wanted to make my decision around the November-to-early-March time because that’s where things are really done.”
According to votes cast via the Sky Sports England Squad Selector, Barkley is ahead of the likes of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Frank Lampard in the race to make Hodgson’s final squad.
