- Kobbie Mainoo came off the bench during England’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia
- The Manchester United starlet is in line to make his first start of the tournament
- LISTEN to It’s All Kicking Off! EUROS DAILY: All the reasons England fans have to be positive going into the last 16
Kobbie Mainoo is in line to make his first start of Euro 2024 on Sunday but Gareth Southgate is likely to resist the temptation to make wholesale changes to his team for the crunch clash against Slovakia.
Manchester United midfielder Mainoo has made two substitute appearances so far here in Germany and made a big impression when coming on for Conor Gallagher at half-time of Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia.
And Mainoo is leading the race to play next to Declan Rice in England’s midfield in this weekend’s crunch last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen.
If the 19-year-old gets the nod, he will become Rice’s third midfield partner of the tournament alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gallagher.
Southgate has faced calls to make sweeping changes to the team, particularly his forward line, that has started the tournament here in Germany following three lacklustre displays in their Group C matches.
But the England boss is preparing to keep faith with the majority of his preferred XI, which means the likes of Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer – for whom there has been a clamour to start – may have to settle for a place on the bench.
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Southgate, however, will have to make a late check on stand-in left-back Kieran Trippier’s fitness ahead of finalising his starting XI.
Trippier hasn’t trained fully over the past 48 hours as England manage a minor calf issue carried into the tournament from the end of last season.
There is hope the Newcastle star can train this morning which would indicate his availability for the knockout game.
Ezri Konsa and Joe Gomez are on stand-by to start the game if Trippier is not available, while Luke Shaw has returned to full training although it appears unlikely Southgate would risk Manchester United left-back from the start given he hasn’t played for five months.
Bukayo Saka, who has started all three matches on the right-wing so far, insists he is not the answer to England’s left-back problem.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright has suggested Saka could play at left-back, but Saka told BBC Radio: ‘I love Ian Wright and he says so many great things about me but I don’t think putting me out position is the solution.
‘But at the end of the day, I think we can we can talk about this but it’s in Gareth’s hands so we will just have to trust whoever Gareth selects on the day.’