Ivan Toney has played down any suggestions of a rift with Gareth Southgate by insisting his focus remains on Brentford after leaving Erling Haaland and Manchester City stunned.
The striker was omitted from Southgate's England squad - which was announce on Thursday - for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, with Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Callum Wilson instead going on the plane. Two days later and Toney provided the perfect response to that disappointment, by putting in a man of the match performance to help the Bees defeat City.
He scored both of his side's goals in their stunning 2-1 win over the reigning champions and even spurned a brilliant chance to claim a hat-trick. His first goal came after just 16 minutes when he reacted first to head past Ederson and put the Bees in front.
City hit back through Phil Foden's stunning effort, with Brentford put under heavy pressure for most of the Premier League clash. But after Yoane Wissa broke away with the ball from a City corner, Toney produced a first-time finish to win the game for the visitors deep into added time.
His performance was enough to earn him the man of the match award from BT Sport as his side claimed their first away win of the season. And following the win, Toney also broke his silence on Southgate's decision to omit him from the England squad.
"Listen, the only thing is keep doing well, keep doing my best. Obviously there's disappointment but I know what I'm capable of. I won't let it get me down," he told BT Sport.
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"Motivation is the boys in the dressing room and the fans. When we work hard, this is what we can do. We know what we are capable of; it is what we doing week in week out in training. They might be Manchester City but they are humans. I think we deserved the tree points."
Southgate defended his decision to leave Toney out of the team, insisting that Wilson was ahead of the Brentford star. He said: "I’ve not had that conversation because he wasn’t in our squad.
“For us, September was a good opportunity to have a look at Ivan on the training pitch, to learn a bit more about him, for him to see how we work. We knew and had discussed with him it was a long shot to be involved at this time in a World Cup.
“We’ve tracked all the players since. We think Callum’s just in that really rich vein of form and has been with us a little bit more, been on the pitch with us, we know him a little bit better.”
England kick off their World Cup campaign with a clash against Iran, before facing the United States and Wales in their final group stage matches. Kane will almost certainly start every game, with Wilson and Rashford likely to serve as back-ups to the Three Lions captain.
