England go into friendlies against Germany and Brazil without three injured Tottenham Hotspur stars.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has managed 15 of the last 30 England debutants.
Six of those players are still with the Argentine at Spurs, although three pulled out of the England squad to play Germany and Brazil in friendlies this week – Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Harry Winks.
A spate of withdrawals has left Gareth Southgate’s ranks looking a little weak, and has helped to highlight how reliant the Three Lions have been on Pochettino’s outstanding development of English talent in recent years.
A potential World Cup XI without any of his Tottenham stars shows their importance to England’s hopes.
While the goalkeeper and the centre-backs would be unchanged, Tottenham full-backs Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier would be an improvement on Ryan Bertrand and former Spurs star Kyle Walker in terms of attacking output.
But it is further up the pitch where this Tottenham-less England XI badly lacks inspiration.
A central midfield partnership of Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and Jack Livermore is desperately short on ingenuity, which could be provided by a balanced pairing of Spurs duo Eric Dier and Winks.
And it is difficult to imagine Southgate’s team making any sort of splash at next summer’s World Cup without Kane leading the line. The striker has six of England’s last 10 goals, coming in only five matches.
Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling are having productive seasons in Manchester and warrant their places in the side, but Kane’s relationship with club teammate Alli is the key to England’s attacking success.
In-fact, the Tottenham connection is critical to any success the Three Lions may have in Russia.
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