Lee Carsley set for Villa Park watching brief as he readies latest England squad

Interim England boss Lee Carsley is heading to Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich ahead of naming his second squad in charge, the PA news agency understands.

Gareth Southgate’s temporary successor last month opened his reign with 2-0 victories away to the Republic of Ireland – the country he represented as a player – and against Finland at Wembley.

England’s Nations League campaign continues this month at home to Group B2 leaders Greece before heading to Helsinki, with Carsley to announce his selection at 2pm on Thursday.

The 50-year-old has travelled around the country to cast an eye over players and is heading to Villa against Bayern on the eve of his St George’s Park squad announcement.

Carsley will be hoping to see England captain Harry Kane line up for the visitors after he hobbled out of Saturday’s Bundesliga draw with Bayer Leverkusen with an ankle complaint.

The 100-cap striker trained on Tuesday and Bayern boss Vincent Kompany says he will be assessed ahead of the match.

Kane’s deputy Ollie Watkins is set to lead the line for Villa in the Champions League showdown, with England team-mate Ezri Konsa in defence.

Carsley is sure to keep a close eye on Villa’s other young talents, with in-form Morgan Rogers pushing for a first call-up after his fine start to the season.

The interim boss boldly named four uncapped players in September’s selection, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes and Noni Madueke going on to make debuts as Tino Livramento watched on.

James Maddison, Kyle Walker and Marcus Rashford are among those pushing for an England recall, while Dominic Solanke, whose solitary cap came in 2017, has a good chance of being included.

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham is set to be included having returned from his calf complaint. Jarrad Branthwaite and Curtis Jones could be in contention after injury.

Cole Palmer, Watkins and Phil Foden are available having withdrawn from September’s camp, but Carsley’s selection will be interesting given he spoke about “freshening it up” with his October squad selection.

“You always need competition,” he said after beating Finland last month. “We need that all over the pitch.

“I’m thinking about the game tonight, but it wasn’t long after coming off the pitch where I was thinking ‘right, I need to start thinking about the next one now’ and how that might look and what players are going to be coming into form and how that’s going to pan out. Competition for places within this squad is very high.

“I think you will see some movement and I think it’s important that we keep freshening it up, we keep moving the squad forward.

“We’ve got another two camps before the World Cup qualifying starts, so it’s important that we’re in a strong position.”