West Ham: Kalvin Phillips given lifeline with three games to salvage England dream

Good news has not been particularly easy to come by for Kalvin Phillips in club football of late, and given he will have watched England’s friendlies this week from an unwanted distance, it would probably be a stretch to say the international break delivered a great deal either. It may just, however, have offered up a lifeline.

While few, including Phillips himself, could argue with Gareth Southgate’s decision to drop the struggling West Ham midfielder from his latest squad, England’s performances - and, in particular, their vulnerabilities - offered a reminder of why the Three Lions boss so values a peak Phillips in the first place.

With Conor Gallagher alongside Declan Rice in midfield against Brazil, England were too open, too obliging in transition.

Kobbie Mainoo was exceptional against Belgium, but how Southgate would love to call on a player with several similar qualities - a snappy challenge, smart recycling of the ball - yet vastly more experience when it comes to the high-stakes realm of knockout football.

A recall in time for this summer’s Euros remains a long shot, but from a position of being out of the West Ham team and near enough out of hope a few weeks ago, the stars have aligned to offer Phillips what will surely prove a final chance.

Edson Alvarez’s 10th yellow card of the Premier League season, collected in the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa just before the break, means the outstanding Mexican holder will be missing when West Ham travel to Newcastle on Saturday lunchtime, as well as when they host Tottenham on Tuesday night.

Another suspension in Europe will rule him out of the first leg of next month’s quarter-final away to Bayer Leverkusen, too.

Those are three crucial matches in the space of a fortnight that will define the shape of West Ham’s run-in and David Moyes may have to turn to Phillips in all three, the onus on the 28-year-old to change the mood music on his loan spell.

The omens are not great. The Hammers’s record without Alvarez is dismal; three league games, one point, no wins. It is cruel to say, but up to now, their record with Phillips is not much better.

Having arrived in January still an England incumbent, Phillips hoped the switch would prove the first small step on the road to resurrecting a stuttering career. With just two months of his loan spell left - and until the start of the Euros - only giant strides will do now.