{"id":1518,"date":"2026-04-01T20:22:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:22:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:22:33","slug":"joe-cole-claims-arsenal-star-should-be-dropped-from-england-xi-at-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=1518","title":{"rendered":"Joe Cole claims Arsenal star should be dropped from England XI at 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>At A Glance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>England now have two matches left to play before the 2026 World Cup.<\/li>\n<li>Plenty of Arsenal stars are expected to be named by Thomas Tuchel.<\/li>\n<li>Joe Cole, however, has claimed that a key Gunners star should not be name in the German\u2019s starting XI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p>England\u2019s penultimate test before the 2026 World Cup didn\u2019t go swimmingly and ex-Chelsea forward Joe Cole has implored Thomas Tuchel to drop a key Arsenal star from the starting line-up in order to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, a limp Three Lions lost 1-0 Japan \u2013 their first-ever defeat to an Asian country \u2013 and Ben White was the only Gunners player present.<\/p>\n<p>Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka both joined up with their compatriots after the 1-1 draw with Uruguay on Friday 27 March \u2013 but the English duo later withdrew with apparent injuries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <\/strong>Every Arsenal player who has qualified for the 2026 World Cup<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal winger Noni Madueke also returned to London Colney after picking up an injury in England\u2019s drab draw against Uruguay after a reckless challenge from Rodrigo Aguirre. <\/p>\n<p>For the majority of England supporters, both Saka and Rice are non-negotiables in England\u2019s dreams of ending their 60-year drought of silverware. Madueke\u2019s inclusion, however, is up in the air.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arsenal star snubbed from Joe Cole\u2019s starting England XI at World Cup<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>On The Dressing Room podcast, though, Joe Cole ran through who he\u2019d start in England\u2019s World Cup campaign. \u201cRight, this is my England team for the World Cup,\u201d the 44-year-old said.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Pickford was his selection between the sticks with Reece James and Nico O\u2019Reilly flanking Manchester City duo Marc Guehi and John Stones in the middle of the back four.<\/p>\n<p>Declan Rice got the nod in midfield. \u201cDeclan Rice starts in midfield and I\u2019m going to go Elliot Anderson next to him. I would have Declan a bit deeper than where he plays for Arsenal \u2013 there\u2019s a big push for him to play further forward but we\u2019ve got so much already going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would have Jude Bellingham as the No. 10 but if he isn\u2019t performing, you can quite easily make a change there,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Bukayo Saka, however, wasn\u2019t as lucky when Cole ran through who should start in the front line for Tuchel\u2019s England. Chelsea\u2019s Cole Palmer would be his replacement on the right flank.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmeAv8BfBmn-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-134249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmeAv8BfBmn-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmeAv8BfBmn-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmeAv8BfBmn-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/media.dave.sport\/readarsenal\/2026\/04\/esmeAv8BfBmn.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI would have Cole Palmer coming in from the right like he\u2019s been doing at Chelsea, releasing him up, and almost playing two number tens. A midfield of Rice, Anderson, Bellingham, Palmer has power, ability and goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To finish his starting line-up, Cole claimed that Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane would form a team strong enough to win the lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the left I would start with Anthony Gordon over Marcus Rashford because he scores goals, he\u2019s a warrior and he presses really well and has legs to run in behind and that will help Harry Kane if he\u2019s dropping off sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p>\n          <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"England XIs, Wayne Bridge\u2019s Hair and Who Should get the Spurs job?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pUgL2YlBQHo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is Bukayo Saka a shoo-in for Thomas Tuchel and England?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s no doubt that Bukayo Saka is currently out of form. The 24-year-old \u2013 who is a 48-cap England international \u2013 has plundered just nine goals in 42 appearances for the Gunners across all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>They are, of course, not awful numbers in the grand scheme of things \u2013 but Saka is a victim of his own success.<\/p>\n<p>Jarrod Bowen of West Ham United (purely based on this season\u2019s return) is his strongest competition on the right wing. In fairness, Bowen\u2019s powering the London club through a tricky season.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Debut<\/td>\n<td>08\/10\/2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Age at debut<\/td>\n<td>19 years, 1 month, 3 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Matches<\/td>\n<td>48<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Goals<\/td>\n<td>14<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Assists<\/td>\n<td>9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><strong>Open Saka\u2019s England statistics per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/bukayo-saka\/nationalmannschaft\/spieler\/433177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Transfer market<\/a> (correct as of 01\/04\/26)<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But what Saka has produced for the national team over the years cannot be swept under the carpet. A two-time England Player of the Year (2022 and 2023), the London-born star has often produced the goods.<\/p>\n<p>On the international stage, since his debut under Gareth Southgate in October 2020, he has scored 14 goals and notched a further nine assists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At A Glance: England now have two matches left to play before the 2026 World Cup. Plenty of Arsenal stars are expected to be named by Thomas Tuchel. Joe Cole, however, has claimed that a key Gunners star should not be name in the German\u2019s starting XI. England\u2019s penultimate test before the 2026 World Cup [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}