SWANNY'S WORLD OF SPORT: My England squad to get out out of a World Cup group

Don't take Jack Wilshere (left) to Russia.

I must confess to finding the optimism following a ridiculously easy qualification group and a couple of meaningless friendlies rather baffling, but anyway here goes...

GOALKEEPERS: Apparently you have to take three. Jack Butland and Jordan Pickford are certainties (I prefer the latter), but there is no point in taking Joe Hart to be third choice. Take a younger goalkeeper for the experience and Nick Pope is the best of the rest.

CENTRE-BACKS: It looks like Southgate is going to play three at the back and he wants them to be comfortable in possession which is why Gary Cahill has been ditched. This approach will be fine against Panama and Tunisia in the group games, but when the going gets tougher from Belgium onwards, better defenders than John Stones will be required. The quality cupboard is pretty bare, but I’d go for Stones, Harry Maguire and Eric Dier as my three main men, but with plenty of concern about how they will cope once the knockout stages start. I’d take Phil Jones ahead of Manchester United team-mate Chris Smalling. Recent caps Alfie Mawson and James Tarkowski aren’t good enough.

Raheem Sterling (left) is one of the better England players thanks to Pep Guardiola.

WING-BACKS: Kyle Walker has been flying for Manchester City and should go with Kieran Trippier also making the plane as a right-sided flyer. I was taken by Ashley Young’s display against Mo Salah when Manchester United outclassed Liverpool recently and he would be my first choice on the other side. The two vastly overrated Liverpool defenders Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold should be ignored.

MIDFIELDERS: With Dele Alli out of form (no matter what people are saying after last Sunday) and Adam Lallana crocked, this is a real problem area. But not so much of a problem that Jack Wilshere should go. Jesse Lingard is that rarity of an attacking player improved by Jose Mourinho, although not to the extent of Raheem Sterling’s improvement under Pep Guardiola. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was a flash in the pan earlier this season and can’t be trusted. Unfortunately Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jordan Henderson make the squad by default while Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey is a better player than many recent selections (Jake Livermore) as is Fulham’s future Premier League star Ryan Sessegnon and Southampton set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse.

STRIKERS: Harry Kane’s recent rest could be good for England. Free from Roy Hodgson’s tactical strait-jacket I reckon he could be a huge hit in Russia. Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford are shoo-ins for the substitutes’ roles.

My 23-man squad: Butland, Pickford, Pope, Jones, Maguire, Stones, Cahill, Walker, Trippier, Young, Bertrand, Sessegnon, Dier, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ward-Prowse, Shelvey, Alli, Lingard, Sterling, Vardy, Kane, Rashford.