Bukayo Saka & Ainsley Maitland-Niles in England Starting Frame

England have been hit with an injury crisis.

Well, I say crisis, but from an Arsenal point of view it’s the perfect scenario. In the previous international break we saw Ainsley Maitland-Niles make his senior England bow as a substitute against Denmark, while last week we were treated to a Bukayo Saka start in the friendly win over Wales.

Heading into the final fixture of this seemingly endless break from club football, Gareth Southgate will have a decision on his hands after the withdrawal of two key players.

Kieran Trippier is the England manager’s favourite pupil, playing him in a left wing-back role and demanding he literally never stops touching the ball. All despite him being right-footed. Ahead of hosting Denmark at Wembley on Wednesday, he’s been forced to drop out of the squad due to personal reasons.

The only other left-footed defender in the squad of 200 right-backs is Ben Chilwell, but he too has left the squad due to a pre-existing foot injury, leaving the Arsenal duo to battle it out for the left wing-back slot. Excellent news.

Saka is the only natural left footer, but Maitland-Niles has began asserting himself on the position of late, looking more comfortable on that flank for the Gunners than he has in his more regular right side.

90 irretrievable minutes of our lives were lost when the two sides previously met in a 0-0 draw, with it hoped that Southgate will field a side with more attacking intent at the national stadium. If that is the case, then we should see Saka get the nod over his teammate.

Maitland-Niles is the more defensively disciplined of the pair, but meaningful contributions on the ball in attacking senses have been scarce. When it comes to dummy runs and creating space for others in the final third he has obvious qualities, yet Saka boasts more incision and creativity in an area the Three Lions come up short.

His debut was difficult to watch, not because of his performance, but due to England’s overseeing of the inventive runs he made and obsession with overloading the right flank. In that second half against Wales Saka saw more of the ball when his teammates bothered to put their heads up, and after more minutes on the training pitch, hopefully they’ve opened their eyes to his indubitable quality.

Suddenly this game got a whole lot more interesting.