10 dark horses for England's 2018 World Cup squad 

Nick Pope
Nick Pope

#9 Joe Gomez (Liverpool)

Joe Gomez

Like Pope, Liverpool's Joe Gomez has benefited from a lengthy injury to a teammate.

In a schadenfreude sense, it is twice as nice for 20-year-old Gomez as the man he has replaced in the Liverpool starting XI, Nathaniel Clyne, is of course also English.

Although Liverpool's defence has left a lot to be desired this season, Gomez has really made the temporary right-back slot his own after pushing fellow English youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the team.

It came after a happy summer for ex-Charlton man Gomez as he was named England Under-21 captain ahead of qualification for the 2019 Euros. England have won three and drawn one of the four games since Gomez's appointment as skipper.

Moreover, in Saturday's 3-0 win over Huddersfield, he demonstrated that he is just as capable being a centre-back in a three-man defence, a fashionable formation that Southgate himself has experimented with a few times.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram
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