Chalobah, Trafford Replace Gordon, Pope In England Squad

Trevor Chalobah

 

Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah and Manchester City keeper James Trafford have been called up to the England squad following the withdrawals of Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon and Nick Pope.

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said both winger Gordon (hip) and goalkeeper Pope (concussion) would withdraw from the squad and the Football Association confirmed this on Tuesday.

Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi, who suffered a foot injury in his side’s Conference League win over AZ Alkmaar last week, has joined up with manager Thomas Tuchel’s squad and “will continue to be assessed in the coming days”.

England’s final World Cup qualifiers are against Albania and Serbia, with the Three Lions having already qualified for next summer’s tournament.

Chalobah earned his first call-up under Tuchel in May and made his debut against Senegal.

In September, Tuchel said the 26-year-old was unfortunate to be left out of the squad for qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia, and he also did not call him up for the subsequent October international break.

Tuchel has been an important figure in Chalobah’s career, having given him his Chelsea debut in 2021.

Chalobah has featured in all but four matches for Chelsea this season, with the club third in the Premier League, in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and in the league phase of the Champions League.

 

England squad

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City)

Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Alex Scott (Bournemouth), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)

Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan from Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal).