Gareth Southgate: 'England lack Joshua Kimmich-type player'

England manager Gareth Southgate has insisted that his side do not have a player in the ilk of Germany's Joshua Kimmich within their squad.

The Three Lions face Germany at Wembley on Monday evening in their final UEFA Nations League game of the current campaign, with neither side having anything left to fight for.

England have already suffered relegation from League A having failed to win any of their five outings to date, picking up only two points from a possible 15 during that time.

Germany also enter the fixture in underwhelming form and are guaranteed to finish third following their 1-0 home defeat to surprise package Hungary in Leipzig last week.

England's creativity has been criticised during the current campaign, with Southgate's side sitting alongside San Marino as the only teams not to have scored from open play in the Nations League groups so far.

However, Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, who registered 19 assists last season, has been omitted from the squad for Monday's match, and Southgate dismissed suggestions that the full-back could carry out a similar role to the one Kimmich carries out for Germany.

"Joshua Kimmich is fundamental to the team and the way they play. He organises the game for them and he reads it so well," the England boss told reporters.

"We don't have that sort of player in this country, I don't think we develop that sort of player well through youth football and through academies. Other countries probably have a little bit more focus on that.

"We have talked about the passing of Trent [Alexander-Arnold] – that's why we gave him a go in midfield [against Andorra last year]. That got completely lambasted. If you are not doing that every day for your club in certain positions, it is very difficult to transfer that on to an international stage."

England's meeting with Germany is their final competitive game before getting their World Cup campaign underway against Iran on November 21.