England Gareth Southgate is set to name his 26-man squad for the 2022 Qatar World Cup on Thursday, November 10 - with a plethora of current and former Scottish Premiership stars in contention.
The Three Lions will be aiming to better their previous two outings in international tournaments when they make the trip out to the Middle East in just under a weeks' time. Having reached the semi-finals of the World Cup back in 2018 before being knocked out by Croatia, they made the Euro 2020 final and lost to Italy, making the Azzurri the only other team alongside Scotland that weren't beaten by Southgate's men throughout the tournament.
With the world's most prestigious competition on the horizon, fans of the Three Lions will be eagerly awaiting to see who makes the final cut for the 26-man squad. With some players guaranteed certs to be named such as Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford and Jude Bellingham, there are some that continue to teeter on the verge of the squad that may well be surprise inclusions. But which of the current and former Scottish Premiership contingent do the bookies back to be in the thinking for the plane to Doha? Record Sport takes a look at the options that have been flouted as excitement builds ahead of Thursday's announcement.
Joe Hart - 50/1
Formerly England's number one, Hart has been out of the England picture ever since his departure from Manchester City in 2017. Having performed well at Burnley, playing second fiddle to Hugo Lloris at Tottenham and then finally nailing down a starting spot at Celtic, the 75-time cap is still one of his country's best shot stoppers.
But the reasons behind his move away from City were well documented by his perceived inability to play out of defence with his feet, unable to suit Pep Guardiola's needs.
With Southgate preferring a keeper that is adept at playing with both his feet and his hands, Hart may well struggle to force his way into Southgate's plans with Jordan Pickford and Aaron Ramsdale taking that role, whilst Nick Pope has shown his class in the Premier League for the past seasons in Hart's role of pure goalkeeping. You'd think that Hart's ship has already sailed despite having the most experience of the goalkeeping contingency.
Fraser Forster - 80/1
Another goalkeeper who plied his trade in between the sticks at Celtic Park; Forster is another name that could well be an outside chance should there be injuries to England's first-choice goalkeepers.
Two loan spells in the east end of Glasgow resulted in a permanent spell before Southampton - notoriously a club that have dealt with Celtic in the past - took him off their hands.
Forster did make the 2014 World Cup squad, but was behind Hart and Ben Foster in the pecking order. You do begin to think that won't be happening again.
James Tavernier - 33/1
Tavernier has made his case well known for a spot in England's World Cup team. Bar Trent Alexander-Arnold, there aren't many other full-backs in the world, never mind English ones, that have the output that he does.
His sticking point is how well stocked England are in the right-back positions. Alexander-Arnold and Reece James are Champions League winners, Kieran Trippier has World Cup pedigree and can play at left-back, whilst other options such as Fikayo Tomori, Joe Gomez and James Justin could be preferred. For a team needing a goal in the final few moments, Tavernier could be perfect - it's just finding his way past the abundance of options that will be his downfall.
Sean Longstaff - 66/1
Longstaff would never have been considered for the squad prior to the start of this season; though his resurgence in the outstanding Newcastle team of this season has been nothing short of excellent.
His loan spell in Kilmarnock properly put him on the radar of Magpies bosses where he has since made over 100 appearances for his boyhood club.
Tenacious, aggressive and adept at playing in an attacking line-up, Longstaff could be part of the conversation - though it might just be too little, too late.
Freddie Woodman - 66/1
Woodman is the only player on this list to have played for two Scottish teams - and more than left his mark at Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.
Again, another player from the Newcastle academy - much like Tavernier and Forster - who struggled to properly stamp his mark at St. James' Park, he has found a home at Preston after spending two superb years on loan at Swansea City.
But with the London-born talent failing to break into the first-team setup under Southgate, there is almost no chance that he will break into the side - only his distribution would rank him ahead of certain others.
James Maddison - 2/5
Maddison is by far and away the most likely to be called up to Southgate's team. The Leicester star has been superb since his £22m move from Norwich back in 2018, and you could see the signs when he moved to Aberdeen on loan for a season back in 2016/17.
Supremely talented with the ball at his feet, it is almost a surprise that Maddison has made just ONE appearance for the Three Lions given his output over the last few seasons. Yet with Phil Foden and Mason Mount as his competition for that role alongside Southgate's preference to play a 5-2-3 formation offers some explanation for that.
His six goals in 11 for a struggling Leicester team this season show just how vital he is, with his ability to change a game at any given moment a key asset for any side. Whether he will make the plane for Qatar is unknown, but he has a brilliant chancing of worming his way in to proceedings.
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