Andros Townsend receives first England callup; Jermain Defoe and Kyle Walker also named in squad

Following a loan spell marked with sustained impressive performances and two very strong first team appearances for Tottenham Hotspur at the start of the current season, inside forward and CFC writer's favourite Andros Townsend has been named by Roy Hodgson to the English side that will face Ukraine and Moldova in the next round of World Cup Qualifiers.

Townsend will link up on the international stage with Jermain Defoe and Kyle Walker, both of whom have been almost ever-present in Hodgson's sides since the new manager was installed midway through last year, and will hope to avoid the fate of former teammates Steven Caulker and Jake Livermore, both of whom have been capped by Hodgson but failed to displace their nearest rivals both at Tottenham and on the England stage for much of the past season. With the England manager not needing to deploy James Milner to check any serious attacking threats from either team, and with Danny Welbeck potentially getting run-outs up front instead of coming in from the flank, Townsend has a real chance to make an impression with his explosive style of play and start to stake a late claim for inclusion in the side which will travel to Brazil next year.

The only potential dark cloud hanging over the news of Townsend's callup sits regards the future of teammate Aaron Lennon, who will now surely be realizing that his place in both Spurs first XI and the national side is now slowly coming up for grabs and will be targeted in the months to come by a hungry and immensely promising youngster. Hopefully he takes up the gauntlet, and Tottenham are left with two motivated and potentially influential options to rotate between for the rest of the season out wide on the right.

Elsewhere, Thomas Carroll, Zeki Fryers and Harry Kane have all received U21 callups and will be hoping to capitalize on what represents an opportunity for the relative newcomers to the side to get their stock high in new manager Gareth Southgate's books. Best of luck to all three when they turn out to represent the Spurs youth contingent.

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