England squad announcement: When is it and who should make the grade?

It has been under than a month since the last international break and now it's time for another, with Gareth Southgate set to name his squad for England's triple-header against Wales, Belgium and Denmark this afternoon.

The Three Lions kick off next week's break with a friendly against Wales before taking on Belgium and Denmark in the UEFA Nations League, with all three matches scheduled to take place at Wembley Stadium in London.

With the extra game to cram in, Southgate is expected to name a larger squad than usual this time around, with an announcement due to be made at 2PM GMT.

The last international break was far from ideal for Southgate, with squad members falling out of line off the pitch and poor football played on it.

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was axed from the squad after his arrest on holiday in Greece, while young duo Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden were sent home early after breaking protocol after their 1-0 win over Iceland.

While Maguire is tipped to be recalled by the Three Lions head coach, Southgate is set to drop both Greenwood and Foden as punishment for their behaviour at the start of September.

It's been a whirlwind start to the new campaign and many new faces will surely come into Southgate's thinking but what would his squad look like based on WhoScored.com ratings post-lockdown?

Selecting a 25-man squad based on WhoScored.com ratings, there are certainly some high profile omissions when choosing three goalkeepers, eight defenders, 10 midfielders and wingers combined and four strikers. In order to qualify, players must have started at least five matches in Europe's top five leagues post-lockdown.

The first striking absentee is Jordan Pickford. The Everton goalkeeper is expected to retain his No.1 spot for England over the break, as neither Nick Pope nor Dean Henderson have done enough this season to warrant replacing him. Pickford was arguably one of England's better players last month but he is still struggling for consistency for Everton.  

England are well stacked at right-back and with only two spots to pick from there will naturally be some high profile casualties. Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier do not make the cut while there is also no place for Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The Liverpool starlet is considered the best full-back in the world but he hasn't quite been at his  scintillating best post-lockdown. Liverpool finished last season with only five wins from nine and Alexander-Arnold made a slow start to the current campaign, although looked back to his old self in Monday's 3-1 win over Arsenal. There is no doubt he is England's right-back for the next decade but, statistically speaking, he hasn't been at his best consistently post-lockdown.

Instead, Manchester United's Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Chelsea's Reece James have recorded higher WhoScored.com ratings over the same period. Both are waiting for their first senior England caps, with James has only ever been called up by the U21s.

Southgate didn't have a single recognised left-back to call on during the last international break but now both Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell are fully fit. The former makes our squad as the highest WhoScored.com rated left-back, but Chilwell fails to make the grade after an injury-hit few months. In his place is uncapped James Justin, who has started the new campaign as his replacement at left-back for Leicester.

Moving into midfield and Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse will hope to retain his place in Southgate's plans after a stellar 12 months and impressive few months since lockdown, while all eyes will be on whether Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish can finally make an England squad on merit rather than as an injury replacement.

Like Alexander-Arnold, Jadon Sancho is another high profile omission from the England squad based on WhoScored.com ratings. The Borussia Dortmund has endured a turbulent time post-lockdown as his future at the Bundesliga club continues to dominate the headlines. It lead to Sancho being cast in and out of the side and while he has still managed a WhoScored rating of 7.27 in that time it is well below his average since the beginning of last season (7.63). He has managed just one goal and three assists in his eight league appearances in that time.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin finished September as our Premier League player of the month and already has two hat-tricks to his name in all competitions this season. As the joint top scorer in the Premier League this season (5), Carlo Ancelotti has clearly got the 23-year-old firing on all cyclinders this season and he should be the standout new name in Southgate's England squad.