James Maddison in line for first England start against Ukraine

James Maddison has put himself in the frame for his first England start in the European Championship qualifier against Ukraine at Wembley after fighting his way back into Gareth Southgate’s plans this season.

The Leicester City midfielder, 26, earned his international debut in 2019 but has not played since. He was included in the World Cup squad earlier this season for his Premier League form and recovered from a knee injury for the first two games before being on the bench.

Southgate has used Maddison as part of a front three with captain Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka during training at Tottenham Hotspur’s training facility. The England manager will make an enforced change after Luke Shaw’s red card during the win against Italy in Naples, with Ben Chilwell pushing for his inclusion.

Jordan Henderson, who was a first-choice for Southgate in Qatar, missed Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Real Madrid through illness but has fully recovered now and could replace Kalvin Phillips.

Maddison underlines the number of attacking options Southgate has, with Phil Foden and Jack Grealish also in the squad and Marcus Rashford recovering from a knock and not part of the squad.

Reece James pulled out of the England squad and returned to Chelsea to assess an ongoing fitness problem, while Shaw still trained ahead of the game despite his suspension.

Southgate says his players must focus on beating Ukraine, as they would any opponent in a crucial European Championship qualifier, despite the sympathy many have for the invaded nation.

The Ukraine team will be welcomed to Wembley with the English Football Association having contributed to a series of charity initiatives for the country, and a warm reception from the home crowd is inevitable.

Nevertheless, Southgate has said his players will have to leave sympathies aside and remind themselves this is a crucial Euro 2024 qualifier.

He was asked whether his players might have a similar experience to Scotland, defeated by Ukraine at Hampden Park last June, in a World Cup qualifier. “I think that was difficult,” Southgate said. “It was the beginning of the war [in Ukraine] and Hampden had a different feel – a different feel to what we’ll get in September, that’s for certain.

“But it’s not irrelevant because I think we all want to pay our respects and show our support and that’s important for all of us. But as soon as they [Ukraine] enter the competition, they want to go through and it’s game on. So in a football sense we need to do what we need to do to win the game.”

The FA has invited more than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees living with British families to attend the game in addition to the 4,200 Ukraine fans expected to be in the away end. There will be appeals at the stadium to donate to the charity platform of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. The FA has also supported a charitable trust in Ukraine.

The Ukraine team features Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk and Everton full-back Vitalii Mykolenko among others, and poses a significant threat. Asked whether Ukraine are the side most England fans would least mind losing to, Southgate saw that differently.

“Well, I would,” he said. “We want to win games of football. Our job is to qualify. Our job is to represent our country with the pride that they [Ukraine] are going to represent their country. So I would be worried if our players don’t have that same level of motivation that Ukraine have.

“They [Ukraine] didn’t have a game the other night so they’ve a little bit more preparation time and recovery time. Other than that physical aspect we’ve got to make sure our level of motivation and focus is what it was before the game in Italy. We had a lot of drive for that. Because we were still smarting from the World Cup, we were smarting from previous games against Italy. Now we’ve got to get back to that start point.”

Meanwhile, Rashford, who has withdrawn from five of the past six squads, not including the World Cup finals and Euro 2020 finals, has posted pictures of a break in New York. Southgate was reluctant to offer any public criticism of the player who has just five caps since the Euro 2020 final in July 2021 – and all of them at the Qatar World Cup.

Southgate said: “We always make a judgment on how people are playing and he’s obviously played a lot for us. I’ve known him a long time. I know what he’s capable of. It’s good to see him in the goalscoring form he’s in.”

Southgate said he would leave to the FA and Uefa the decision as to whether they play the return Euro 2024 qualifier in Ukraine on September 9. No venue has yet been set.