Who will start in goal for England v Netherlands? Gareth Southgate reveals his choice

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England boss Gareth Southgate has revealed that Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will start in goal in the England v Netherlands match on Friday evening.

Southgate has a lot of pondering to do before the World Cup 2018 commences as there is strong competition for the goalkeeping places.

SEE MORE: Netherlands vs England TV channel, kick-off time, date, odds and squads

However, the ex-England player has included four goalkeepers in his squad and has handed Pickford the No 1 spot for the opening match, with Joe Hart, Jack Butland and Nick Pope providing back-up, and praised the Everton shot-stopper.

“Jordan Pickford will play in goal tomorrow night,” Southgate said.

“He is a very agile goalkeeper, quick around his goals, he is capable of making big saves, his distribution is excellent – a really outstanding distributor of the ball with his feet which is how we want to play.

Pickford has been in very good form this season

“It is a great opportunity for him. He played really well against Germany in November and it’s a good chance for us to see him in another international game.”

However, Southgate admitted that he is yet to decide will start in goal for England at the World Cup in Russia.

“We are not in a situation where we have a goalkeeper who is established in the team and playing at his club regularly and all things are aligned as you might hope at this point,” he continued.

“But that is where we are, I have confidence in all of the guys that they can go in and do the job. At the moment we don’t have a clear number one.

“If Jordan Pickford does well tomorrow he’ll give himself a huge boost and gives us food for thought on what we’re doing moving forward.”

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