Southgate backs Trippier to thrive

Gareth Southgate believes Kieran Trippier is one of the best crossers of the ball in the Premier League as the right-back prepares to make his England debut.

Nathaniel Clyne has withdrawn from Southgate's squad for games against Scotland and France next month, with Trippier set to challenge his Tottenham team-mate Kyle Walker for a place in the team.

Trippier is in the England squad for the first time, having started five of Tottenham's last nine games, and Southgate hailed the 26-year-old's quality on the ball.

"We'll be without Nathaniel Clyne," Southgate told reporters on Tuesday. "He had been carrying an injury and that's why we named three right-backs, we thought that might be an issue.

"So we'll be with Kieran [Trippier] and Kyle Walker, but Kieran impressed me at Burnley in the season they had in the Premier League when he was there and I think he has finished the season very well with Tottenham.

"I watched him a lot at Burnley, he's got a good mentality, his play in the final third of the pitch is of a high quality, he is one of the best crossers of the ball in the league, I think, and his selection of pass is good.

"It's obviously been an unusual situation, we've had two of our best full-backs both at Tottenham and it's been nice from our point of view that Kieran's had matches towards the end of the season.

"That's enabled us to have a more realistic case for picking him because he's somebody that we’ve been following right the way through."