London (AFP) – Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori were rewarded for a fine start to the season under Frank Lampard with a call-up to the England squad on Thursday for Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Abraham, who has won two caps for the Three Lions before in friendlies against Brazil and Germany in 2017, had flirted with switching his international allegiance to Nigeria, who he qualifies for through his father.
However, the 22-year-old, who scored his first Champions League goal for the Blues in a 2-1 win in Lille on Wednesday, now looks set to declare for England.
Abraham has scored seven times in seven Premier League games so far this season.
Tomori has also shone at centre-back for Chelsea after playing under Lampard on loan at Derby last season.
The emergence of a host of young players, though, has come at the expense of some of the stars of a run to the World Cup semi-finals 15 months ago.
Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli and Kyle Walker have all been left out.
The Three Lions travel to face the Czech Republic in Prague on October 11 before a trip to Sofia to take on Bulgaria four days later.
England are in a commanding position to qualify for next year’s European championships after winning all four of their opening qualifers.
Squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Nick Pope (Burnley), Tom Heaton (Aston Villa), Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez (both Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Ross Barkley, Mason Mount (both Chelsea), Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice (West Ham), Harry Winks (Tottenham), James Maddison (Leicester), Fabian Delph (Everton)
Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford, (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth)
