England manager Roy Hodgson has said that Andros Townsend must get first-team action at club level if he is to continue being selected for the national side.
The Tottenham Hotspur winger is yet to start a Premier League game under Mauricio Pochettino, although Hodgson has included him in the England squad for the forthcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers against San Marino and Estonia.
"Pochettino at the moment has decided he doesn't want to use him, which is fine by me, but like all players, he runs the risk that the less you play, it does get harder and harder for me to keep faith with players," Hodgson is quoted as saying by Setanta Sports.
"The players have to understand that for me to pick them, they do need to be impressing in some way because I can't keep faith forever in players who are not getting a game. They've got to get some games.
"Townsend has played almost 400 minutes of football this year, which actually puts him in the upper bracket of players with minutes played, which is quite surprising. I've kept faith with him because of his qualities. I think he deserves another opportunity to show us again this week."
Townsend has been left on the bench again for Tottenham's home game against Southampton today, which you can follow live on Sports Mole here.
Kristian Johnson
