Yahoo News Gareth Southgate suggests Raheem Sterling will return to his England XI against Kosovo
Gareth Southgate claims Raheem Sterling is likely to return to England’s starting line-up for Sunday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Kosovo.
The Manchester City winger has been left out of Thursday’s clash with Montenegro but will be in attendance at Wembley alongside suspended team-mate Jordan Henderson for England’s 1,000th men’s international.
Sterling was dropped following a bust-up with Joe Gomez in the team canteen at St George’s Park on Monday as emotions spilled over from Liverpool’s 3-1 win against City a day earlier.
Southgate’s handling of the incident has divided opinion with several players understood to be disappointed at both Sterling’s punishment and the clash being publicly acknowledged.
The England boss admitted it was possible Sterling “had the hump” with him over the situation but suggested his exile from the team will not extend into the weekend.
Asked whether Sterling will play against Kosovo, Southgate said: “Yes, as I say, it’s... without knowing what might happen in tomorrow’s game and everything else, but I can’t see [why not].
“I’m not going to pick the whole team for the next two games, but whatever decision I make, what happened last Monday won’t have any bearing on selection for the next two games.”
Southgate defended his decision-making over the affair amid criticism from several ex-players including Rio Ferdinand but insisted he would not let outside influences affect his thinking.
“Nobody else walks in my shoes and has to deal with all of those things, so whenever I pick a squad, the country’s divided,” he said.
“Whenever I pick a team, the country’s divided. And then, the team has to go and play, and if we play well and we excite the fans and the team performs at the level that we believe they can, then everybody comes together a little bit and then everybody talks in the pub about who should’ve played and who should’ve come into the game, and ‘why did he make that change’ and they’re divided again.
“So, I have to accept that, I can’t worry about that, I’ve got to make the decisions that I think are right. If you’re a leader and you try to keep everybody happy all the time, then that’s not going to happen.
“You’re probably going to duck an issue that maybe you should deal with, so it’s a lonely place to be, a challenging place to be. But, you have to stand up and make sure that you’re accountable, that you’re there to stand up and speak about the decisions that you make and show a way forward for the team. In the end, the most important thing is that we win the game tomorrow night.”
England only need a point against Montenegro to qualify for next summer’s finals.
