League Focus: Performances of Englishmen Up From Last Season

The increasing number of foreign players in the Premier League means that Roy Hodgson's job of picking a squad is harder than ever, right? Well no, not really.

Much has been made of the recent comments from Jack Wilshere, speaking on a potential future call-up for Belgian-born Adnan Januzaj, with the England midfielder quick to emphasise that there is young talent born and bred in the home of football. While the Arsenal man's choice of words made the headlines for the wrong reasons, his feelings on the evidence of English talent right now ring true, so is the need to look for loopholes really existent?

A recent WhoScored.com analysis of the number of English players in the top-flight for ESPN showed that the figures were indeed at an all time low, but it wasn't all doom and gloom. There are 94 English players that have made at least 4 appearances already this season, and that is up on the figure from this point in the previous campaign.

Furthermore, the quality of performances from said Englishman seems to be on the rise. If you look back to the same stage in each of the last 5 seasons, never before have England had more representatives among WhoScored.com's top 20 rated players. That number stands at 7 this time around, with 5 of those currently training with the international squad ahead of this week's crucial double-header against Montenegro and Poland.

The unlucky duo to miss out in this instance are Villa's Fabian Delph and Hull's Curtis Davies, with the former picking up a WhoScored rating of 7.64 thus far, which is enough to stand as the joint best among Englishmen alongside the Premier League's top scorer Daniel Sturridge. Meanwhile, Davies' impact with newly promoted Hull has been obvious, even captaining the side in the absence of Robert Koren having accrued an excellent average rating of 7.59 for the Tigers to date.

The overall figure of 7 Englishman making WhoScored's top 20 is an improvement from 5 last season, while back in 2010/11 only two of the best 20 players at this stage of the season were available for selection to then manager Fabio Capello (Gerrard and Rooney). In the previous campaign the five best Englishmen were all experienced, if not internationals by then, with Rickie Lambert joining Crouch, Gerrard, Ferdinand and Baines in the top 20.

There's even more reason for encouragement this time around then, particularly ahead of a World Cup year, with four of the top seven under the age of 25. Indeed, the newly called upon Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend join the aforementioned Sturridge and Delph in the English team of the season thus far, along with young Palace right-back Joel Ward. Meanwhile there's cause for optimism in the fact that Phil Jagileka (7.29), Leighton Baines (7.52), Steven Gerrard (7.61) and Wayne Rooney (7.32) - all of whom are expected to start on Friday - also make the XI, proving that a number of Hodgson's stars are bang in form.

The average rating of WhoScored's best English XI thus far (7.45) is indeed at a high and a considerable improvement from the 7.31 at the same stage last season. It's an average that was matched in 2011/12 thanks in no small part to a remarkable start to that season by Wayne Rooney, garnering an average rating of 8.88. When you consider the top rated Englishmen this season are tied on 7.64, it's clear that the spread of ratings among the team is far more equal and impressive.

In addition, this season's XI have an average age of 26, with only Gerrard (33) and Jagielka (31) in their thirties. It's the youngest English XI at this stage in any of the last 4 seasons, with that average up considerably to 27 in each of the last three campaigns.

It may be very early days in the current season but not only have the performances of Englishmen in the Premier League risen significantly since last season but the average age of those at the top of their game has dropped. Provided the current squad do enough to qualify for next year's World Cup in Brazil the Three Lions could soon be moving in the right direction.

Are the performances of a number of young Englishmen cause for optimism on the international front? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below