Gareth Southgate will now be under ‘huge pressure’ to start Chelsea star Cole Palmer in their last 16 showdown at Euro 2024.
Palmer struck 27 goals in all competitions in his debut season for the Blues but was an unused substitute in England’s first two group games against Serbia and Denmark.
In their final group game, the Three Lions laboured to a drab goalless draw against Slovenia. Struggling to create anything of note, the 22-year-old was brought off the bench after 70 minutes to replace Bukayo Saka.
Palmer and Kobbie Mainoo, the latter who came on at half-time to replace Conor Gallagher, were England’s brightest players following their introductions.
Anthony Gordon, another substitute on the night now pushing for a starting role, teed the Chelsea star up for a potentially game-winning chance in injury time only for Jan Oblak in the Slovenia goal to deny him.
Despite the missed chance late on, Palmer would appear to have put himself firmly in the frame to start England’s next match, which will be their last 16 knockout tie taking place in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday.
Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane believes the Chelsea star has done more than enough to force his way into the side.
‘He’ll be under huge pressure to play Palmer in the next game because he came on tonight and affected the game,’ Keane told ITV Sport.
‘They are struggling to get that flow of the game. But they are keeping clean sheets and a couple of young players came on tonight and maybe that’s the way to go. I always say with young players, they have got no fear, just go with them sometimes.’
Southgate meanwhile praised the impact delivered by all of his substitutes and admitted he was ‘backing’ Palmer to score with his chance late on.
‘He did very good,’ Southgate said of Palmer.
‘He finds space well and he makes chances and we were backing him to score at the end. They are young players and we are blooding them in a difficult environment. They had a good impact for us and did good things for us.
‘Anthony Gordon, Cole Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, it was a really good move. We have to build on that. There were a lot of things to build on from tonight.’
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