England have announced they have called up West Ham left-back Aaron Cresswell to replace Danny Drinkwater for upcoming matches against Scotland and Spain.
Drinkwater, 26, has been forced to withdraw from the Three Lions squad after the central midfielder bruised ribs in a 2-1 defeat to West Brom on Sunday.
Rather than looking to add genuine cover in central midfield by handing Ross Barkley a route back into the senior squad or handing a first ever call-up to Adam Forshaw, Gareth Southgate has instead brought in a third left-back to the squad.
Cresswell, 26, has only made three league appearances this season after returning from knee ligament injury suffered in the summer, although the former Liverpool academy graduate has been one of West Ham’s best players in the last two years.
Southgate has also been forced to call-up Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after Fraser Forster was ruled out of the international break through injury.
Since the start of last season West Ham have nearly lost as many league matches from the nine games Cresswell has not started (five defeats) from the 40 matches in which the left-back has started (9).
For more stats on Aaron Cresswell, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
