Gareth Southgate explains why he’s dropped Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold from England squad

Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold missed out on England’s latest squad (Picture: Getty)

Gareth Southgate says Trent Alexander-Arnold’s decline in form and ‘incredible competition’ for places at right-back led to his decision to drop the Liverpool star from his latest England squad.

Reece James, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker were given the nod as Southgate named his 26-man party on Thursday afternoon and all three are likely to feature in this month’s World Cup qualification triple header against San Marino, Albania and Poland.

Elsewhere, there were recalls for Jesse Lingard, Luke Shaw and John Stones, while Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins and West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone received their first senior call-ups.

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The Three Lions are blessed with a wealth of options at right-back heading into this summer’s European Championships but Alexander-Arnold’s omission was perhaps the biggest shock of Southgate’s announcement.

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Sam Johnstone, Nick Pope.

Defenders: Ben Chilwell, Conor Coady, Eric Dier, Reece James, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Jesse Lingard, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, James Ward-Prowse.

Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Ollie Watkins.

The full-back, who has won 12 caps for the national team, has had his toughest season yet with Liverpool and Southgate said he was ‘very unfortunate’ to miss out.

‘There’s some areas of the pitch where we’ve got incredible competition for places and Trent is very unfortunate,’ Southgate told reporters when asked about the reason for Alexander-Arnold’s omission.

‘I don’t think he’s played at the level that he found in the last couple of years but I think he’s getting very close to that now. In the last few weeks he’s definitely taken steps in the right direction.

‘It’s simply that we think Reece James and Kieran Trippier have had exceptional seasons with their clubs. Kyle Walker is in great form with Manchester City and we’ve got other players in the league who are also playing well in that position: Cash at Aston Villa and Ayling at Leeds.

‘We’ve got two very good right-backs in the Under-21s, it’s a remarkable position of strength.’

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Southgate confirmed he had spoken with Alexander-Arnold to explain his thinking and backed the full-back to respond well and play a key role going forward.

‘What I said to Trent earlier today was that I’ve made that same call to Kyle [Walker] and to Kieran [Trippier] in the past and their response was a good one.

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‘They took up the challenge and they found themselves back in the squad.

‘Trent is of course a super talent and he’ll, I’m certain, play a big part in the future.

‘He misses out this time but we could quite conceivably be sitting here in the summer and he’s with us.’