Southgate should give £10m Newcastle United man chance over 24-year-old to prove his World Cup credentials – TBR View

Mon 19 September 2022 12:15, UK

Arsenal and Newcastle United fans will have eyes on Gareth Southgate’s England selections during the international break.

Southgate’s first choice goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is unavailable due to a thigh injury.

This is going to give an opportunity to one of his deputies ahead of the November’s World Cup.

The trio have just 12 caps between them, but a huge chance to make their case to start in Qatar.

Henderson’s appears to be Southgate’s fourth choice and has only received a call-up due to Pickford absence.

The choice for Southgate is therefore between his other two stoppers, and the England manager should Pope a chance to challenge Pickford.

Newcastle’s new number one was the only goalkeeper nominated for August’s Player of the Month award.

He was won save of the month after thwarting Adam Lallana at close range.

Southgate should give Pope his England chance

, Pope immediately replaced Martin Dubravka between the sticks.

Ramsdale, meanwhile, has been described as a ‘great addition’ to the Arsenal team by Kieran Tierney.

Both keepers have kept the same number of clean sheets this season after seven matches.

They’ve also conceded the same number of goals, seven, but there’s a big difference between the number of shots they’ve faced.

Ramsdale’s shots saved percentage is 61%, compared to Pope’s 81.6% ().

In fact, only Pickford and Bournemouth’s new stopped Neto have a higher save rate than the ‘excellent’ Pope.

Looking deeper into the stats, Ramsdale expected goals against is only 4.4, meaning he’s conceded more goals than he should have.

In contrast, Pope’s expected goals against 9.4, meaning he’s prevented more goals than the average goalkeeper is expected to.

One of Pickford’s most important attributes for England is his ability on the ball.

Despite Burnley’s reputation for simple, long ball football, Pope’s surprisingly adept with the ball at his feet.

He has a similar pass completion rate to Ramsdale for long passes.

Pope does tend to go longer with his passes than Ramsdale, but has significantly shortened his passes compared to his time at Burnley.

The Newcastle stopper is one of the most dominant keepers outside of his area, which would allow England’s defence to sit further up the pitch.

Both keepers command their area well, but Pope tends to deal with crosses into the box much better.

Southgate should give Pope his chance in England’s final two group games, although Ramsdale would act as an able deputy.