Video game makers use official data to select the best current England side.
Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart should be omitted from Roy Hodgson’s England XI to face Slovenia – according to the Premier League’s official player ranking index provided by EA Sports.
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EA Sports have released the data to pick the best 23-man squad for the England national side, and some of the results for the starting XI are a little surprising.
The biggest, perhaps, is that the only two representatives from the Manchester clubs, Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart, have made the squad, but not the starting line up.
The starting XI is as follows:
GK: Fraser Forster – Southampton
PPI Index: 119
There was little doubt that Forster would make a positive impact in the Premier League, and he has been a key figure in Southampton’s bright start to the campaign.
RB: Nathaniel Clyne – Southampton
PPI Index: 160
Clyne, too, has been instrumental in helping the Saints recover from a devastating summer, and has made a nuisance of himself bombing up and down the right flank.
CB: Gary Cahill – Chelsea
PPI Index: 149
Already an England regular, the Blues stopper has continued to form a strong partnership alongside John Terry.
CB: Phil Jagielka – Everton
PPI Index: 146
The Toffees man, like Cahill, is also a regular within the national side but his appearance in this side comes off the back of scoring a howitzer in the Merseyside derby and learning that he was the fastest player in the Premier League.
LB: Leighton Baines – Everton
PPI Index: 186
Baines may not be playing up to his own high standards so far this term, but his crossing abilities have kept his place safe.