Arsenal: The 3 players destined for international involvement

Benjamin White is One of the Best English Central Defenders

Overlooked last time out, the final member of this squad who has to, at the very least, be in England contention is Benjamin White.

After a rocky start to life in north London the 24-year-old has settled superbly and been in exceptional form. Alongside Gabriel the pair have helped steer the club on a seven-game unbeaten run in the league, recording four clean sheets and conceding just four goals.

Looking every part a £50m player, his intelligence off the ball and athleticism getting across the grass has allowed Arsenal to play more front-footed football, and his superpower is becoming a more common occurrence.

Few defenders can carry the ball out of the back like he can. Excellent agility in short bursts, neat technical control and strength to hold off opposition players, it’s a unique tool he can use if lanes are cut off to distribute. His overall passing has looked top drawer and in the air he’s dispelled talk of him being weak in duels.

Are there many better English central defenders around at the moment? Harry Maguire remains a fridge, John Stones somehow gets selected every week despite never playing for his club, Tyrone Mings is having a poor season at Villa, while Conor Coady is not agile enough, nor is he international standard.

Fikayo Tomori is an exciting young prospect, but Southgate has to see what White is doing in the Premier League as more worthy of reward.

Selfishly, these three Arsenal men will continue to have the international breaks off to recover. Less minutes for England, more minutes for Arsenal.

But the trio are en route to being with the group every squad. Their consistency, underlying metrics and familiarity with one another has to play into their advantage. With the way they’re going it would be a shock if even one of the three was exempt from Southgate’s upcoming squad.

For years Arsenal have only seen the occasion Danny Welbeck call-up for England. Now they’ve got one certainty and three huge probabilities.