Gareth Sougate – Reuters/Hannah MckayIn Gareth Southgate’s own words, only a very brave manager would leave Jude Bellingham or Declan Rice out of the England team on present form, yet the slot beside the driving force in his Midfield is one of the only remaining questions ahead of the Euros. It increasingly looks like a fight between Kalvin Phillips and Trent Alexander-Arnold.Southgate’s full-strength team is close to being settled. His players can secure a place in next year’s finals with a result against Italy on Tuesday and then preparations can start for Germany. There could be a few tweaks to the team depending on form or a wildcard catching the eye, but most is known.It is Southgate’s third midfielder that gives him a dilemma. He has faith in Phillips despite him struggling to play games at Manchester City, while Alexander-Arnold has been a success as a midfielder. Against Australia on Friday he was an “inverted full-back” in the middle of the park, then played as a No 8 in the second half.Italy return to Wembley for the first time since overrunning England’s midfield in the Euro 2020 final but that area of Southgate’s team has a different dynamic now. Rice, taken off after 74 minutes in that game, is now England’s most expensive player following his £105 million move to Arsenal. Bellingham is a galáctico at Real Madrid and top scorer in La Liga.“We’re different now. We’ve got athleticism and power in our midfield which is a different sort of profile to a lot of other countries,” said Southgate. “We’ve got different options to do different things but I think certain matches require certain types of players.“That depends on who we’re playing, the type of game, the makeup of the opponent. I wouldn’t say that area in particular [is settled], there is some movement depending on the type of opponent. At the moment you’d be a brave man to leave either of those two [Rice and Bellingham] out but who plays in there with them?”Southgate cites the Euro 2020 win over Croatia as one of the important occasions when his midfield matched world-class opponents. Luka Modric could not open up England and the winning goal was set up by Phillips, who is clearly still in Southgate’s plans. The 27-year-old has only started in a League Cup defeat to Newcastle but a January loan could see him get more game time.Alexander-Arnold has given a strong case for inclusion from his performances for England in the summer and then against the Aussies, when he split their defence in the build-up to Ollie Watkins’ winner.“It was hard for him to find space as it was quite congested,” said Southgate. “He ended up finding space a little bit more when he dropped to the side of the park. It’s something he’s still working out when he plays in midfield. Sometimes teams play narrow and the space will be in an unorthodox position for him.“We wanted to pop him in with Kalvin as well for the last 20 minutes, I think he’s a No 8 that’s also a different option for us with his range of passing.“Although we didn’t play with a No 8 tonight which is why we got him in at full-back, it is an option although we’re having to learn about in important games and in very short periods of time so it’s something we really like. He’s got qualities that are very different to all of our midfield players and we want to keep looking at it as much as we can.”There are others who could push for that final role. Mason Mount has suffered recent injury problems and will be looking to get back in the England squad next month. James Maddison and Phil Foden have been used on the left flank for England but could put forward cases for being midfielders. As Southgate says, nobody can take their foot off the gas.England still need to put the finishing touches to qualification. They face an Italy team in chaos after Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo were sent back to their clubs as they are involved in an investigation into illegal betting.“I would have thought Zaniolo might have played but in terms of Tonali they’ve got a lot of good midfield players,” said Southgate.England have momentum going into the match. Despite drawing with Ukraine last month, their win in Naples at the start of the campaign was a performance that added to the belief they could go one better than the last Euros when they reached the final.“We hadn’t won in Italy since whenever, so we said coming out of the World Cup that we had to start winning those games, especially away,” said Southgate.“That was a step forward. We did have to show resilience. We played really, really well in the first half of that game and then we had to sustain pressure, conceding a goal and down to 10. There were good traits as there were last month as well. We’ll have to show all of that again.”The senior players will return against Italy – Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire, Rice, Bellingham and Harry Kane were rested against Australia – but that one slot in midfield will be up for grabs, with Southgate’s players looking to grab it.Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.

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