Lingard and Sancho left out of England World Cup qualifier squad

England manager Gareth Southgate says he had to drop Jadon Sancho and Jesse Lingard from his squad because they're not playing enough for Manchester United.

Southgate says there's too much depth in the group to pick players who aren't starting many matches.

Since his £73m move to the club over the summer, Sancho has only played 12 games for Manchester United, but is yet to score a goal.

Lingard has only made eight appearances this season, but has bagged two goals and an assist.

Southgate said: "With Jesse and Jadon, I mean they just aren't playing a lot of football compared to the other players in their positions.

"People say I'm inconsistent, but I don't think I am. If you're playing regularly for you club you've got a much better chance of us assessing your level compared to the rest of the group.

"Both of those boys when I spoke with them totally understood that. They get it. They know that at the moment they've got to get playing for their club and playing well and then England is a bonus on the top. But they're both players that have done well for us and I'm sure they'll be back with us."

The squad:

Sancho's former Borussia Dortmund team mate Jude Bellingham has been called back to the squad.

Marcus Rashford, who is recently back from an injury, makes the squad alongside Luke Shaw, Phil Foden and Kyle Walker.

Manchester City's John Stones has made the squad, despite only making four appearances for his team this season.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Reece James have made their way into the squad, with Kieran Trippier making way.

The England manager said:" "Kieran Trippier, who we haven't selected this time to give a bit of an opportunity to Reece (James) and to Trent.

"But Kieran has always performed brilliantly for us, has been a huge part of us getting to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final.

"He's a player that we have so much respect for and I'm sure he'll be back with us in the future."

"Always difficult (to pick a squad) because we've got so much competition for places and we had quite a few players missing last time, which means you bring others in. Then you've got more decisions to make", he added.

"We've kept a reasonable amount of consistency, really, with the groups that they were with in the summer. They did so well, we're only five international games on from that. But also there are players pushing that group really strongly."

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