Trent Alexander-Arnold received praise to go with his recall from Gareth Southgate as the England boss hedged his bets for Euro 2020 by naming a 33-man provisional squad.
The Liverpool right-back could yet face exclusion agony when Southgate trims his list to 26 next week, but for now Alexander-Arnold is back in the England picture.
Once seen as a player who would hold down the right full-back berth for England for years to come, the 22-year-old was dramatically dropped from Southgate's squad in March, with the head coach questioning his recent level of performance at club level.
Atletico Madrid's Kieran Trippier and Manchester City's Kyle Walker – both title winners with their clubs this season – look to be ahead of Alexander-Arnold, who may be battling Chelsea's Reece James for a place in the final group.
After a late-season surge to a Champions League place by Liverpool, helped by an improved Alexander-Arnold, the England head coach was left with a quandary.
"I could easily get drawn into individuals who might be in the 26, get myself in a mess," said Southgate in a news conference following his squad announcement.
"People feel I have an obsession with right-backs. I see four good footballers. Trippier can play right-back or left-back, Trent can play right-back, wing-back. I think he can play in midfield.
"In the last few days I've seen Reece James play right in a three, at wing-back, in midfield. We're going to a tournament and those sorts of flexible players that can fulfill different roles but are good footballers are going to be hugely important for us.
"We don't know how it will play out with injuries, what our best systems will be with people available, we've got too many question marks.
"That will all become far clearer. We know what we'd like to do, we've got good contingencies in place."
Southgate selected an expanded squad because of injury worries over the likes of Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson, the captains of Manchester United and Liverpool. By including Alexander-Arnold, Southgate at least delays any criticism over his exclusion, and it may be that a space opens up for the attack-minded defender.
Alexander-Arnold is a slightly different flavour of defender to Southgate's other options, as a player who had 13 assists in Liverpool's 2019-20 title-winning campaign and seven in the league season just ended.
James has just two Premier League assists in 2020-21 and Walker only one, with the City defender creating just eight chances compared to the 77 set up by Alexander-Arnold. Trippier assisted on six goals in LaLiga, however.
James, Walker and Trippier are all well ahead of Alexander-Arnold in terms of dribble and tackle success rates, and Southgate can be expected to be aware of such factors.
Alexander-Arnold's 2020-21 league dribble success rate stood at just 47.06 per cent, with Walker posting 53.33 per cent, James 65.38 per cent and Trippier 76 per cent.
In tackling success, Alexander-Arnold's 58.93 per cent success rate was beaten by his three right-back rivals, who each scored at least 63 per cent, led by 65.52 per cent by Walker.
The Liverpool man's attempted dribbles may at times have been high-tariff manoeuvres, given he regularly plays high up the field, but Alexander-Arnold loses possession at a rate that could give England problems. He gave up the ball 25.49 times on average per 90 minutes in 2020-21 league action, compared to 14.83 by James, 16.35 by Trippier and a mere 13.32 by Walker.
As Southgate toys with that big call, he must also decide whether Mason Greenwood, United's 19-year-old forward, makes the cut.
Greenwood scored just seven Premier League goals at one every 261 minutes in 2020-21 but, after a strong end to the campaign, he has again caught the eye of England's manager, who sent him home along with Phil Foden at the start of the season after a breach of COVID-19 protocol while on national team duty in Iceland.
"In terms of the past it is absolutely the past," Southgate said. "Young people make mistakes, we move on from it, the same with Phil [Foden].
"He's an absolutely outstanding finisher, no question about that."
New England Revolution v D.C. United: Lesesne hoping to keep high level on 'hard' road trip
Troy Lesesne was full of praise for D.C. United's comeback win over Nashville SC but has urged the team to maintain their high level when they travel to New England Revolution.
D.C. came from behind, scoring two late goals to snatch a 4-3 victory over Nashville in midweek, moving them to 11th in the Eastern Conference.
They are one of three teams on 37 points and still have a chance of making the playoffs with two games remaining.
Lesesne is now keen to build on their latest run of form in what he describes as a tough place to visit.
"It's another situation where we need three points," Lesesne said. "We can go do it, but we just need to be in this mindset.
"New England are a very good team, I understand where they are in the table, but it's really hard to get points there and we need to be at our best again.
"I've been trying to communicate a clear message the entire season about the mentality, and how the players display themselves. That was on full display [against Nashville]."
Meanwhile, New England's slim chances of making the playoffs are still alive, despite suffering a 2-1 defeat to Houston Dynamo last time out.
They sit 14th in the table on 31 points with three games left, but head coach Caleb Porter acknowledged they need to improve the small details if they want to make it to the postseason.
"For me, where we fell short is the details [against Houston]," Porter said. "And that's the area of our team that we have to continue to work on.
"We have to finish our chances. We have to be smarter in those details of our decision-making. And the guys know that. So, for me, that's a real learning lesson."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution – Carles Gil
Carles Gil scored for the first time since early September from the penalty spot against Houston, ending a run of four games without a goal.
He is the team's second top-scorer on seven goals, while he has also registered the most assists (five), and the Revs will be hoping he can provide the spark in their search for a vital three points.
D.C. United – Gabriel Pirani
Most of the headlines for D.C. will often go to Christian Benteke, who has a league-high 22 goals so far. However, Gabriel Pirani stepped up when it counted on Wednesday.
He sits second on their goalscoring charts with six for the season, getting two of those in stoppage time in midweek, to flip the game on its head and claim a superb victory.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION WIN
New England were on a three-match unbeaten streak against D.C. but lost their most recent meeting with them this season, going down 3-1 in February. However, D.C. have lost their last four trips to Gillette Stadium.
The Revs have won just one of their last seven MLS matches (D2 L4), though that victory came in their last home game as they edged past Nashville 1-0.
Meanwhile, D.C. have lost just one of their last six outings (W3 D2) – that defeat did come on the road, but they bounced back, coming from behind to get their win over Nashville in midweek.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution – 45.5%
Draw – 26.8%
D.C. United – 27.6%
Leicester's heads are not down as wait for a win goes on, says Cooper
Steve Cooper insists the mood at Leicester City is not downbeat as the Foxes' wait for a first Premier League win rolls into matchday seven.
Leicester fought back from 2-0 down away at Arsenal last time out, only for two goals in second-half stoppage time from the Gunners to break their resolve.
Attention now turns to a home game against Bournemouth, who beat Leicester's fellow promoted side Southampton 3-1 on Monday.
And though Leicester sit in 17th without a win to their name, Cooper is not down in the doldrums.
As reported by Leicestershire Live, he said: "We're not heads down and we're not of the mindset that we'll be okay either.
"Both of those mindsets are dangerous. We're in the middle of that, where we're frustrated that we haven’t been able to get more out of the games, but there's a constant determination to put things right.
"We have to make sure the mindset is right with the players. I really believe that will happen, convinced of it, that we will get what we want from this season."
One bright spark this season for Leicester came off the pitch, as they won an appeal that means they cannot be penalised by the Premier League for an alleged breach of the competition's financial rules in the 2022-23 season.
This means Leicester are extremely unlikely to be hit with a points deduction for that supposed breach.
"The landscape has definitely changed on that front," said Cooper.
"Even when that was looming over us, it wasn't interfering with our daily work either.
"What we want to achieve, as we decided on, it's still very much achievable. When we achieve it, we will look back and say it was a rocky road."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City - Wilfred Ndidi
Bukayo Saka (five) is the only Premier League player with more assists than Ndidi (four) this season.
Ndidi's four assists is just one fewer than he managed in 32 Championship appearances last term, while it is already his joint-best in a single Premier League campaign (also four in 2020-21).
Bournemouth - Antoine Semenyo
Only Erling Haaland (31) has had more shots than Semenyo (28) in the Premier League this season, with Semenyo the only Bournemouth player to score more than once so far (three).
The Ghana international has also completed the most dribbles (eight) and had the most touches in the opposition box (34) of any Cherries player in the competition this term.
MATCH PREDICTION: BOURNEMOUTH WIN
Cooper has never beaten Bournemouth in five attempts in all competitions (D2 L3). It is the joint-most he has ever faced an opponent as a manager without ever winning (also five vs Manchester United).
Leicester have faced more shots than any other side in the Premier League this season (114), with their 34 faced against Arsenal last time out their most on record (since 2003-04) in a single match in the competition.
However, since winning four consecutive away league games in November/December last season, Bournemouth have won just three of their last 13 on the road (D3 L7), with two of those wins coming against sides in the relegation zone.
That being said, Bournemouth have won each of their last three Premier League games against Leicester, their joint-longest winning run against the Foxes in their league history (also three between 1987 and 1989).
Leicester have won just two of their 12 Premier League games against Bournemouth (D5 L5), with both of those victories coming at the King Power Stadium in 2019 (2-0 in March, 3-1 in August).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Leicester City - 31.5%
Bournemouth - 43.3%
Draw - 25.1%
Solanke earns England recall, Foden, Palmer and Bellingham return
Lee Carsley has recalled Dominic Solanke to the England squad for their upcoming Nations League matches against Greece and Finland.
Solanke's only previous call-up came when he was at Liverpool back in 2017, earning his sole cap as a substitute against Brazil.
Despite missing the start of the season through injury, he has made a fine start to life at Tottenham and has scored in each of his last three matches in all competitions.
"Dom's a player I'm fully aware of having worked with him in the past," said Carsley.
"He was really close to being in the last squad but got injured just before selection. He did so well at Bournemouth, and now he's taken that form into Spurs. He's extremely talented, and it's good that we've got him."
Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham are also back in the squad after missing the September fixtures through illness and injury respectively.
Should Bellingham feature for the Three Lions this international break, he would move outright second for most England appearances before turning 22 (currently 36, level with Marcus Rashford), after Wayne Rooney (40).
Kyle Walker is also back in the fold having been left out of the last squad due to a lack of playing time, and could move into the top five for most England appearances made at Wembley Stadium (37) if he plays against Greece.
Meanwhile, Harry Maguire, James Maddison and Eberechi Eze all drop out.
England squad in full:
Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Newcastle United), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Rico Lewis (Manchester City), John Stones (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Conor Gallagher (Atletico Madrid), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest), Angel Gomes (Lille), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Noni Madueke (Chelsea), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Dominic Solanke (Tottenham), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
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