Gareth Southgate to hand Ruben Loftus-Cheek his England debut against Germany

Gareth Southgate will hand Ruben Loftus-Cheek his England debut against Germany tomorrow.

The 21-year-old midfielder, part of his first ever England senior squad, will start at Wembley after a series of withdrawals in central midfield.

He will likely play alongside Eric Dier given the injury absence of Jordan Henderson, Harry Winks and Nathaniel Chalobah in the middle of the pitch.

Loftus-Cheek has shone this season since going out on loan to Crystal Palace from Chelsea. But having established himself as a Premier League starter for the first time, he has earned the backing of Southgate.

Now he will be playing for the England senior side, with the possibility of facing Brazil too on Tuesday night, trying to make his case to go to the World Cup in Russia next summer.

“This period between qualification and the finals has to have an element of experimentation,” Southgate told a news conference on Thursday.

=“If we don't try things in these games, when are we going to try things? Germany took a really young team to the Confederations Cup - I thought it was brilliant what they did.

“I've really enjoyed the week. New players coming in and two great games to look forward to. We'll take more from these games than any of the qualification games.”