World Cup Qualifiers: Jesse Lingard called up to England squad

Interim England manager Gareth Southgate has decided to call up Manchester United youngster Jesse Lingard to his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Malta and Slovenia. The winger, now aged 23, worked with Southgate at the England Under-21s national team and he was a part of his squad at the Under 21s European Championships in 2015. Lingard managed to score a goal for Manchester United this season and made four appearances. Fellow team mate Marcus Rashford will also be in the England squad after having scored a hat-trick for the Under-21s against Norway. Alongside the youngsters there will also be a veteran that will rejoin the squad: Stoke City's full-back Glen Johnson returns to the England squad for the first time since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Johnson, now aged 32, has recently come back from a severe knee injury that kept him out of play for seven months. Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will also make his comeback after being absent from the England set-up for almost a year. Leicester's Danny Drinkwater picked up an injury last weekend and won't be part of the England squad, as well as Liverpool duo Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne, both injured as well. England are in Group F along with Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta and the Three Lions are 1/5 at Bet365 to win the group.