Team Focus: Upcoming Qualifiers Allow England to Experiment in Midfield

There has been one constant throughout England's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign beyond winning each of their 6 group matches thus far. Roy Hodgson has fielded a midfield trio in every game, with the most common combination seeing Jack Wilshere start at the base, with Jordan Henderson and Fabian Delph to his right and left respectively.

With Wilshere and Henderson both sidelined and Fabian Delph having only recently returned from a hamstring strain to play a total of 17 minutes of league action since a move to Manchester City, it's fair to say this is a real opportunity for a number of fringe players to stake a claim for a starting berth.

With the likes of Ross Barkley (7.63) and Jonjo Shelvey (7.58) ranking as the highest rated English players in the Premier League thus far most supporters are hoping to see a completely new look midfield on both Saturday and Tuesday. In all likelihood Michael Carrick will take the deepest spot in the centre of the park, with Ryan Mason and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also hoping to profit from a lack of match action from Delph.

A look at the stats from the qualifying thus far suggests that it's Jack Wilshere that will be the one man sorely missed in the midfield, and it’s his style of play that will likely be hardest to replace. The injury-prone Arsenal youngster had started 5 of the 6 group games before this international break, netting a crucial brace to secure a 3-2 victory in England's last match against Slovakia. His man of the match rating of 9.26 took his average for the qualifying campaign to 7.82, ranking third for the Three Lions behind Danny Welbeck (8.48) and Wayne Rooney (7.95), who have each had a direct hand in 6 goals to date.

Wlshere's form for England was arguably the real positive to take for Roy Hodgson, making the deep-lying spot in midfield his own having proven capable of driving play forwards from that position. The consistent form of Fabian Delph - securing a rating of 7.21 from 4 starts - has also been promising, though Jordan Henderson's input has been surprisingly lacking.

Over the past three seasons the Liverpool midfielder has come on leaps and bounds for his club, earning the captaincy following the departure of Steven Gerrard in the process. Henderson is the all action midfielder Gerrard once was for the Merseysiders - albeit not of the same calibre - and has improved his end product to score 10 goals and have a hand in 17 assists since the start of the 2013/14 Premier League season.

For England, however, Henderson has never really hit the same heights and in this qualifying campaign in particular he has thoroughly underwhelmed. His passing has been sloppy at times and he's not offering the same creativity in advanced areas that he does for his club, often looking frustrated in England colours as a result.

Despite starting all 6 of the group games so far the 25-year old has earned a modest WhoScored.com rating of 6.83, which is the second lowest of the 14 outfielders to feature in at least 3 games. To put that into perspective Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has made all three of his qualifying appearances from the bench, accruing just 81 minutes of action, but secured a strong score of 7.12.

The versatile Arsenal youngster will surely get his chance in this double header as a result and while some say it's impossible to pick a national team purely on club form, doing so based on performances in the international set-up makes sense. With that in mind Henderson has perhaps been lucky to keep his place and, now that Delph is likely to see his playing time restricted at City, there may yet be places up for grabs in Hodgson's starting XI, let alone squad ahead of the Euros next summer.

With Oxlade-Chamberlain capable of playing in a midfield trio as well as a more typical advanced position, the 22-year old may well be first in line to mount a serious challenge. Meanwhile, with Shelvey and Barkley both beginning the season in fine form, it will serve England well to have a little more competition in the middle of the park to keep the current trio on their toes.

Given the form of the likes of Cahill, Rooney and Kane this season, there aren't really many players that could honestly claim to warrant a safe spot in the current starting line-up. In turn, and sitting in such a commanding position in the group, the upcoming matches against San Marino and Switzerland offer Hodgson a great chance to assess his options.

Starting from the centre of the park, it's fair to say that there is still time for a handful of players to make a starting spot their own before the squad for Euro 2016 is announced.

Who should start in England's midfield three in the upcoming qualifiers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below