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Three months of the Premier League season have now passed and, as we come close to the next international break, we introduce to you 10 players who could be included in the England party that goes to Russia next summer.
#10 Nick Pope (Burnley)
Only about a year ago, England were spoilt for choice with numerous goalkeeping options. Joe Hart was Manchester City's undisputed number one, Fraser Forster was only increasing his reputation at Southampton, Jack Butland was an exciting prospect and Tom Heaton was a dependable option as well.
Now, as we edge closer to 2018, Hart is still England's number one but a completely different player form-wise, and there have been growing calls for manager Gareth Southgate to replace him with Butland.
Forster is also having a difficult start to the season and, although Jordan Pickford has now emerged too, he has not yet hit the levels he did at Sunderland last campaign, and Heaton has a long-term injury.
The latter may be a blessing in disguise for the Three Lions though as Sean Dyche has been forced to deploy 25-year-old Nick Pope in goal instead.
Since making his Burnley debut against Crystal Palace at Turf Moor, Pope has kept four clean sheets in the seven league games he has featured in and also only conceded once, at Anfield, against a famously gung-ho Liverpool side.
The Palace clean sheet was the first Burnley managed this season.
It would not be surprising to see Southgate go with his tried and tested Hart, Butland and Forster trio, but if the boss goes on form, Pope is in with a real shot of being one of the three stoppers in the squad.
#9 Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
Like Pope, Liverpool's Joe Gomez has benefited from a lengthy injury to a teammate.
In a schadenfreude sense, it is twice as nice for 20-year-old Gomez as the man he has replaced in the Liverpool starting XI, Nathaniel Clyne, is of course also English.
Although Liverpool's defence has left a lot to be desired this season, Gomez has really made the temporary right-back slot his own after pushing fellow English youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the team.
It came after a happy summer for ex-Charlton man Gomez as he was named England Under-21 captain ahead of qualification for the 2019 Euros. England have won three and drawn one of the four games since Gomez's appointment as skipper.
Moreover, in Saturday's 3-0 win over Huddersfield, he demonstrated that he is just as capable being a centre-back in a three-man defence, a fashionable formation that Southgate himself has experimented with a few times.
#8 Demarai Gray (Leicester City)
There has been a fair amount of chopping and changing at Leicester City in 2017 but one constant around the King Power Stadium has the desire to start Demarai Gray more.
Gray, who cost the Foxes £3.7 million in January 2016, arrived in Leicester with a lot of excitement as his stock was quite high following some impressive showings at Championship club, Birmingham City.
Sunday's 2-0 win over Everton, in which Gray ran proceedings, was only his 12th start since he joined, and fans were questioning why early on when he started to cause Everton problems.
It did not take him long to turn chances into goals as, in the 18th minute, he surged past first Tom Davies and then Idrissa Gueye and seemed to have the freedom of Leicestershire to then pick up Riyad Mahrez who squared for Jamie Vardy for 1-0.
Not long later, he scored, albeit fortuitously, as Jonjoe Kenny sliced a cross from Gray into the back of the net, but regardless, the tricky winger was the standout Man of the Match.
If he starts more often and keeps putting in performances like that, a full England call-up may not be too far away.
If not, he can always carry on his summer success as he and the rest of the Under-21 squad made the semi-finals of the Euros. Gray scored two goals in Poland, including one in that semi-final against Germany.
#7 Jamaal Lascelles (Newcastle United)
Newcastle United may be a newly-promoted side, but last season, they were a Premier League side that were having a sabbatical in the Championship.
The Magpies' struggles have seen the emergence of a born leader in Jamaal Lascelles though.
Lascelles was signed by Newcastle from Nottingham Forest in 2014 but was immediately loaned back to Forest to ensure the centre-back got regular first-team football.
It paid dividends too as Lascelles immediately became a Newcastle mainstay in the side that got relegated from England's top tier.
The first real decision Rafa Benitez made as Toon chief was to name Lascelles as Newcastle skipper and, as captain, he led the North East club to last year's Championship title.
He has made a positive start back in the Premier League too, as Newcastle have kept three clean sheets and the defender has scored two goals.
#6 Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
This list is not ranked on most or least likely to be on the plane next summer, but Jack Wilshere is in the middle, at number six, for a reason.
Some will think Wilshere's clear ability should have him in Russia as long as he is fit, while a large section of others will either need his fitness proved or feel his seemingly never-ending injury problems will always be a potentially wasted spot.
However, given England's painful lack of creative midfielders, a player like Wilshere will be crucial to any England success (or success by England's standards, anyway).
Arsenal fans will quickly want to forget this season, given they are in Europe's second-tier competition for the first time in 20 years, but their Europa League campaign has been a great chance for Wilshere to get minutes under his belt again.
A chance he has taken with aplomb as he was excellent in the wins against FC Koln and BATE Borisov. He got 22 minutes as a sub against Koln and the whole 90 in Belarus.
If Wilshere does not make it to Russia though, there is an even younger creative midfielder that may make the cut ahead of him...
#5 Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur)
Since arriving in the Premier League, Mauricio Pochettino has been credited with bringing a whole host of English talent to the national team set-up and the next one off the conveyor belt is young Tottenham midfielder, Harry Winks.
Winks, 21, was more of a bit-part player for the ever-improving Spurs last season as, although he made a surprisingly-high 21 league appearances for Pochettino's men, they were predominantly off the bench.
Now though, as central midfield pair Victor Wanyama and Moussa Dembele struggle with injury, he is establishing himself as a key component in Tottenham's English core that also consists of Danny Rose, when fit again, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and, of course, Harry Kane.
As mentioned previously, England have a real problem with creative midfielders, or lack thereof and Winks has already started to show he is capable of filling that gap as, on his England debut, he was the man-of-the-match in a 1-0 win over Lithuania in their final qualifier.
He combined well with Spurs colleagues Alli and Kane, which will only help his easing into the senior team.
A sign of Winks' rapid development is that he has only been capped twice by the Under-21 side, and if he keeps up this current form, he will have more than that for the seniors in no time at all.
#4 Alfie Mawson (Swansea City)
When England boss Gareth Southgate tested the 3-4-3, or 3-4-2-1, however, you interpret it, at Lithuania, the discussion arose of which English defenders could play as part of a back three. Mawson certainly fits into this category.
Mawson was not part of the three-man defence that Southgate went with in Vilnius; he was not even in the squad and, while he may find it difficult to shift the likes of Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling, John Stones and Michael Keane, his knowledge of the three-at-the-back system may give him an advantage over some.
Swansea's defensive approach away from home also sees Paul Clement attempt to close the hosts down by going with a five-man defence, which is helping Mawson adapt to being under the cosh, a scenario England will likely find themselves in. This was best demonstrated in the terrific 0-0 draw Swansea managed at Wembley against Tottenham.
It has been a rapid rise for Mawson, who is only in his second Premier League season. Only four years ago, he was playing Conference South football with Maidstone on loan and then Conference Premier football with another pair of loans, this time at Welling and Luton.
His ever-increasing projection continued this summer when he scored England's first goal at the Under-21 Euros, which set them on their way to a 2-1 win over Slovakia in their second group stage match.
Mawson will not be planning on stopping his career improvement anytime soon and it would not be a surprise to see him at a different international summer tournament next summer - the senior World Cup.
#3 James Tarkowski (Burnley)
The last time England were gearing themselves up for a World Cup, a 20-year-old James Tarkowski was a world away from Roy Hodgson's plans, as he was plying his trade at then-League One side, Brentford.
One promotion, two Championship seasons and a £6 million move to Premier League side Burnley later, he could find himself in the reckoning.
He started to make a name for himself in Lancashire immediately and in the opening three months of this season, started getting more attention. Already this season he has been named Man-of-the-Match on two occasions and, to help his PR, both of those games were televised.
As well as the two 1-0 wins, at home to Crystal Palace and away at Everton, to which those two Man-of-the-Match awards apply, Tarkowski has helped his side to a further two clean sheets in the league, making it four from 10.
Born in Manchester, Tarkowski is also eligible to play for Poland through his paternal grandfather, who was born in Poland and moved to England after the Second World War.
Tarkowski has stated on record that he is holding out for England rather than Poland, although patience can quickly run out if he is continuously overlooked.
#2 Lewis Dunk (Brighton and Hove Albion)
To continue the long list of potential new England defenders, Premier League debutants Brighton have brought another name to the fore: Lewis Dunk.
In truth, it is no surprise to anyone, least of all fans of the Seagulls as their vice-captain was, according to Squawka, statistically their second best player last season behind Player of the Year, Anthony Knockaert.
Written when Brighton secured promotion, three games before the end of the season, Dunk ranked top for interceptions made (124), shots blocked (38), clearances (279) and second for headed duels won (173) in Brighton’s squad, while he has also completed more passes (1,501) than anyone else.
Had Jack Grealish not struck in the final game of the season, Brighton would have surprisingly usurped Newcastle to the Championship title and boasted the best defence in the division, with just 39 conceded. However, sharing it with the Magpies (40 conceded each) is no mean feat.
Dunk has not let up in the Premier League as he and centre-back partner Shane Duffy have been as solid as a seaside rock for the South Coast club, helping Brighton keep three clean sheets and lifting them to a lofty 12th position on the table.
#1 Tammy Abraham (Swansea City)
Any perception that England do not create talented youth products flew out of the window this summer as every age group side that competed in a tournament got to the semi-final or beyond.
Chelsea and Manchester City are the big two hoarders of the country's brightest and Tammy Abraham, who is on loan at Swansea from the former, had his part to play in England's glorious off-season as he was part of the Under-21 squad that got to the Euro semis.
Abraham only got the one goal in Poland, the second in the 2-2 draw against Germany in the semi-final, prior to the predictable penalty shoot-out exit, however, that was only an extension of a fantastic first full season as a professional that he had on loan at Bristol City.
The Robins struggled in England's second tier but the same could not be said of Abraham as the goal poacher netted 23 times in 41 games for Lee Johnson's men.
Like so many on this list, Abraham has taken to the step up like a duck to water, or more like a Swan to water, as he is currently the Welsh club's top scorer, with four.
Abraham's gangly six-foot-three stature may stand him in good stead for England as, around this time, we tend to get calls for Andy Carroll or suchlike to get a call-up due to being a 'different option'. Abraham is certainly that and he is a better one too.
