England manager says half a dozen Englishmen featuring in Liverpool v Manchester City is a sign of the times, not a cause for celebration

With all the excitement around the big match, please forgive Gareth Southgate for letting some air out of the balloon. Asked if he is excited that Sunday’s match between Liverpool and Manchester City may feature as many as half a dozen players eligible for the national team, his reply does not serve to further the hype.

“Well, it used to be double that,” Southgate says with a wry smile. “So that’s probably a bigger sign of the times, that we won’t have half the players on the field eligible for us. Then we have to pick up the pieces of that game.

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