The Three Lions are in San Marino for their group finale, needing just a point to book their place at Qatar 2022 following Friday night’s big win against Albania at Wembley. Reece James was among the starters in that game, deployed in his customary club position at right wing-back as he claimed an assist for the opening goal.

In the process, the 21-year-old took his tally of goal involvements this term to nine and Southgate was particularly pleased with how he impacted the game in more central areas, a theme of his recent Chelsea performances.

‘Reece did that really well against Denmark in one of his first games but then we ended up going down to 10 men and we had to change it but we know he’s a player who can do that,’ said the England manager.

‘Against Andorra, he played in the middle of midfield for 20 minutes and was very comfortable. I saw him do the same for Chelsea at Aston Villa last season.’

James picked up his ninth senior cap last week in a display that had all the hallmarks of a modern full-back performance, with energy and attacking intent combined with defensive strength and solidity.

Southgate hailed it as a ‘top level’ showing following a couple of quieter outings and insisted the young defender’s potential was particularly exciting.

‘Reece is just a very, very talented footballer,’ he continued. ‘He’s excellent with the ball and strong without it. His performance [against Albania] was really top level.

‘His last games for us were a little bit quiet and I think we just had to remind him of the belief we’ve got in him. He’s got everything. He’s already a top player but he can be anything that he wants.’

James has been joined in the England senior squad by his fellow Chelsea Academy graduate Conor Gallagher, a player he grew up alongside in the same age group at Cobham for a decade.

The on-loan Crystal Palace midfielder has started the campaign in fine form at Selhurst Park and has been promoted from the Under-21s following Jordan Henderson’s withdrawal with injury.

‘We’ve been very impressed with him,’ explained Southgate. ‘We’ve tracked him for a very long time in his loan spells at Charlton, Swansea – we knew the staff there very well – at West Brom and now at Crystal Palace so in each loan he has done extremely well.

‘He was already Covid-tested and going from one group to the other was straightforward. That’s not to say he is only there because of that. He is here because he deserves to be here but it was an easy transition for us to make.

‘He has started the season very well with Palace. We talked about him when we named the original squad as somebody we were keen to keep an eye on. I suppose it’s one of the benefits of being with the Under-21s because it was an easy transition for us to bring him across.’