Out-of-favour Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips is reportedly set to start for England in Tuesday's Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy at Wembley.
Gareth Southgate's men could punch their ticket to Germany with two games to spare this week, having amassed 13 points from their opening five matches in Group C so far.
The Three Lions sit three points better off than Italy and Ukraine, who play each other on the final matchday, and a point would be enough to guarantee a top-two finish owing to their superior head-to-head results.
England warmed up for their reunion with the Azzurri by scraping a 1-0 friendly win over Australia on Friday, where Southgate unsurprisingly made a plethora of changes to his regular starting XI.
A midfield of Jordan Henderson, Conor Gallagher and James Maddison took to the field at Wembley last week, while Phillips was brought on as a second-half substitute to see out the narrow victory.
According to Sky Sports News, the former Leeds United man will now be brought back into the starting lineup for England on Tuesday, in spite of his dismal domestic fortunes in recent months.
Phillips played a fundamental role in Leeds' rise to the Premier League and subsequent consolidation in the top flight, earning a £45m move to Man City in the summer of 2022.
The 27-year-old arrived as a successor to long-serving captain Fernandinho, but he was plagued by a shoulder injury in his debut campaign and was also behind Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in the pecking order.
The arrivals of Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic this summer have also made it difficult for Phillips to make a name for himself under Pep Guardiola, who has offered him just 167 minutes in the current campaign.
Phillips's only start of the season came in an EFL Cup third-round loss to Newcastle United, while he has played a total of 77 minutes across four substitute outings in the Premier League and Champions League.
The Englishman is expected to seek a move away from the Etihad in 2024, but the report adds that his defensive nous has won Southgate over, and he will join Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham and Arsenal's Declan Rice in the engine room on Tuesday.
Phillips has not started a game for his nation since March's opening 2-1 win over Italy in Group C, and his promotion to the starting XI means that Henderson will drop to the bench after being booed by the home crowd on Friday.
Further changes from the Three Lions should see Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane return to the final third, while Kieran Trippier should deputise at left-back with Ben Chilwell and Luke Shaw injured.
A fit-again John Stones is likely to be joined by Three Lions stalwart Harry Maguire in the heart of the rearguard, while Jordan Pickford will take the place of Sam Johnstone in goal.
AC Milan's Fikayo Tomori and Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah - who made his England debut as a substitute in the win over Australia - have apparently been left out of Southgate's 23-man squad. body check tags ::
