With the World Cup fast approaching and given the unknown territory it encompasses given its timing, the likelihood is that many squads will be selected based on early-season form for their respective clubs.

Therefore, for a team like Aston Villa, who have struggled thus far in the Premier League, many of their underperforming players will have had their hopes somewhat dashed.

This is particularly the case for Tyrone Mings, who seemed set to become a bit-part player under Steven Gerrard following the arrival of Diego Carlos.

However, his injury thrust the 29-year-old back into the limelight, where he proceeded to let his manager down nearly weekly.

The most damning notion of the 42-year-old’s lack of faith happened before the season even started when Mings was stripped of his captaincy in favour of John McGinn.

He has since gone on to record an average SofaScore rating of 6.81 for the season, which arguably flatters a man who has featured in all but three Premier League games for the sixth-worst defence.

Having featured earlier in the year for England, the 6 foot 4 giant was omitted from the most recent UEFA Nations League squad that fell to relegation.

This is likely due to this aforementioned poor start, which saw Danny Mills label the defender “terrible”, suggesting that Harry Maguire should be preferred despite the Manchester United defender having made just four league appearances this season.

The £80k-per-week ace has even been narrowly outperformed by his teammate and compatriot Ezri Konsa, who has recorded a 6.83 SofaScore rating whilst averaging 1.4 tackles and 2.8 clearances per game.

More importantly for his nation too, his 83% pass accuracy would make him a more attractive prospect than Mings, who has also made one error leading to a goal in just 11 appearances.

At a tournament like the World Cup, especially one as energy-sapping as Qatar is likely to be, Southgate cannot afford to take risky players with mistakes in them.

Having let Gerrard down - leading to his sacking - the former AFC Bournemouth man has likely played himself out of favour with his recent form and will be forced to watch on from home as England try once again to ‘bring it home’.