FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers: Too much quality at right-back gives Gareth Southgate dilemma for England

Gareth Southgate once said he'd love to pick six right-backs in his England squads, such is the national team's riches in that position. A glance at the attacking statistics in this season's Premier League shows just why.

No player in England's latest squad has scored more goals in the league than Reece James, Chelsea's right-back, with four. Who in the squad has set up the most goals? Well, that'd be another right-back, Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has four assists. He scored with an exquisite free-kick against West Ham on Sunday, too. Then there's a third right-back, Kyle Walker, who is consistency-personified and displaying arguably the best form of his career at Manchester City.

Kieran Trippier, a regular for Spanish champion Atletico Madrid and a starter for England in the European Championship final, didn't make the squad this time. Another talented English-born Premier League right-back, Matty Cash of Aston Villa, opted last month to switch nationality to Poland. He might just have seen the line of players ahead of him.

So how has England become so loaded in one position? "That's a great question," James said Tuesday, with a laugh. "I don't actually know." James said the position has changed compared to five or 10 years ago, when "being a right-back was maybe just being a defender." So the answer might lie in the influx of the so-called 'super coach' from abroad, bringing new ideas to the Premier League and revolutionizing the role of a full back to one who attacks as much as defends. Suddenly, it's an exciting position for a youngster to play.