Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen were named in the England squad on Thursday but there was no place for Mason Mount or Raheem Sterling.
Watkins scored his second hat-trick of the season on Saturday in Aston Villa’s 6-1 thrashing of Brighton while Bowen has netted five times this term for West Ham.
England boss Gareth Southgate is hoping to give both players some gametime in either the World Cup qualifier against Italy on October 17 or, more likely, the friendly with Australia four days earlier.
Of Watkins, Southgate said: “Ollie has started the season well – he’s hit a bit of scoring form in the last couple of weeks.
“You have to be careful with that because you can’t just go on recency bias with selection.
“But he is in good form and obviously coming in on a high and he’s been with us before so we know his character, his personality – he is a good guy around the group.
“His team are playing well and he’s playing for a team that are really well coached, and they are in a good moment.”
Here it is: your #THREELIONS squad for October! 👊
— England (@England) OCTOBER 5, 2023
Sterling has not been included in an England squad since the World Cup at the end last year with Southgate satisfied with his current options.
He added: “We’ve been happy with the wide players and the performances in the last four games in particular and the two in March.
“The team are playing really well so clearly there is some stability there. We have added Jarrod Bowen in those wide areas. He’s scored five in seven games, he’s playing really well and with the Australia game there’s the opportunity to learn some different things.”
Southgate did not select a recognised left-back in the squad with Levi Colwill and Kieran Trippier expected to step in in place of injured duo Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell.
Goalkeepers: Pickford (Everton), Ramsdale (Arsenal), Johnstone (Crystal Palace).
Defenders: Colwill (Chelsea), Dunk (Brighton), Guehi (Crystal Palace), Maguire (Manchester United), Stones (Manchester City), Tomori (AC Milan), Trippier (Newcastle), Walker (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Bellingham (Real Madrid), Gallagher (Chelsea), Henderson (Al-Ettifaq), Phillips (Manchester City), Rice (Arsenal).
Forwards: Bowen (West Ham), Foden (Manchester City), Grealish (Manchester City), Kane (Bayern Munich), Maddison (Tottenham), Nketiah (Arsenal), Rashford (Manchester United), Saka (Arsenal), Watkins (Aston Villa).
