Mark Langdon: Final sprint to make England's Euro 2024 squad

It's a funny time in this period between Christmas and New Year.

You struggle to know what day of the week it is as they all blend into one, while in the Langdon household the desperation to get rid of the festive food before it goes out of date has led to some strange combinations, many of which has involved "picky bits".

Pork belly slices for breakfast? Why not. Prawn tempura with an afternoon cuppa? It's what the Japanese would have wanted. 

It's just as bad on the alcohol front as we try to clear the house of booze ahead of dry(ish) January. My wife downed not one, not two but three Slippery Nipples during the first half of Everton versus Manchester City earlier this week which, for those of you unfamiliar with cocktail shots, is sadly a mixture of Sambuca and Baileys rather than some kind of euphemism. 

Everything tends to be a bit fuzzy for a few days at least, but I promise I was stone-cold sober and in no food coma when I started scouring the odds to make England's Euro 2024 squad earlier this week to see what price Ross Barkley was for a Lazarus-like comeback. 

Barkley, 16-1 in case you were wondering, is looking the business at Luton and I am also left impressed whenever I watch Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones, who is currently a 12-1 shot. Jones is still only 22 and starred for England's Under-21 side in last summer's Euros which is a well-trodden path towards Gareth Southgate's senior squad.

Southgate has his favourites, but if Jurgen Klopp believes Jones is good enough to start Liverpool's top-of-the-table clash against Arsenal then it would make sense for the England boss to at least take the hint for the March friendlies. 

Elsewhere, Kieran Trippier is definitely not playing like a 1-16 shot to make Southgate's squad and I will have to take the expert view from the Saudi shrewdies to know whether Jordan Henderson deserves to be 8-11, but both are trusted by the ultra-loyal Three Lions boss.

However, the same can't be said for other odds-on pokes. Callum Wilson at 4-6? 

Not for me, Clive, and hopefully not for Southgate either. Ivan Toney at 6-1 and Dominic Solanke, a 13-2 shot, are the two of interest for me against Wilson if it is presumed Ollie Watkins is the prime candidate to be Harry Kane's understudy in Germany.

There's no certainty Southgate will take three out-and-out strikers but it's also no certainty that Watkins is booked for a spot either.

Toney has been kicking his heels all season waiting to return from his lengthy ban - a suspension which finally ends in the middle of January - and he will either get a big-money move up the Premier League, which will propel his chances of an England call-up, or he will lead Brentford's line as an unrivalled striking option. There's no doubt he is good enough for England as long as he comes back in the same shape he departed.

Solanke is more of a wildcard, but eight goals in his last seven league games and 12 for the season makes him the highest-scoring Englishman in the Premier League. Only Erling Haaland has more goals in the top flight.

The one-time youth sensation - Solanke was voted the best player as England won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017 - has taken the long way to the top after being hyped up to the max during his time at Chelsea and then Liverpool, but he is pushing to add to his solitary international cap.

Time has probably passed for Barkley, but I'll be raising a glass to Jones, Toney and Solanke to make England's Euro 2024 squad - and maybe even a pork belly slice too. 

Premier League predictions

Manchester United to beat Nottingham Forest 6-5

United are good in this type of game - having won all four matches away to bottom-half teams - and it might be that Forest were made to look good by an awful Newcastle performance on Boxing Day.

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