Newcastle United duo called-up to England squad but Nick Pope ruled-out through injury

England go into those games with two wins from two so far in their qualifying campaign having defeated Italy and Ukraine during the last round of international matches. Southgate’s side face Malta on Firday, June 16 at the Ta’ Qali Stadium (7:45pm kick-off) before hosting North Macedonia at Old Trafford three days later on June 19 (7:45pm kick-off).

Kieran Trippier, a regular in Southagte’s international squads, will be hoping to add to his 41 caps for his country next month. Trippier featured for England at the World Cup in Qatar in winter, starting both of their opening two group stage games.

Callum Wilson was also called-up by Southgate for the World Cup after a brilliant start to the campaign in-front of goal. And a stunning end to the season which has seen him net 11 goals in 11 games, has earned the 31-year-old a recall to the England squad.

Speaking about a potential recall for Wilson, Eddie Howe said: “It’s one for Gareth, but he's certainly doing the right things, scoring goals. That's always going to get you the headlines.

"He's certainly in great form. I don’t know if it's his best. But I think he's very focused at the moment, and he knows he has to be.”

Nick Pope has missed-out on a call-up on this occasion however after undergoing surgery on a hand injury. The injury is expected to keep him out of Newcastle United’s final game of the Premier League season against Chelsea on Sunday.

England squad in full: Sam Johnstone, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Lewis Dunk, Marc Guehi, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker; Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice; Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Callum Wilson