Southgate explains why he snubbed Smith Rowe for England despite Arsenal form

Emile Smith Rowe has been left out of Gareth Southgate 's England side ahead of their final two World Cup qualifiers against Albania and San Marino later this month.

The Arsenal star has been nothing short of a revelation since he nailed down a place in the Gunners senior side just under a year ago, but is yet to see his efforts recognised by Southgate.

The England U-21 regular has bagged four goals and two assists across all competitions for Mikel Arteta 's side so far this season, ensuring he has more league goal contributions than the likes of Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden.

Despite this, all three of the aforementioned trio have made Southgate's side over Smith Rowe, though the England boss has since explained his decision.

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Emile Smith Rowe scored his fourth goal of the season against Leicester last Saturday ( Image:

Getty Images)

Southgate opted to mention a number of promising youngsters when pressed on Smith Rowe's absence, claiming: "Emile Smith Rowe, Conor Gallagher, Marc Guehi are all playing very well for their clubs, but we've got depth.

"To include them, we've got to leave some of the players on the sheet out. It's not a bad thing that we're starting to get a very strong Under-21 team.

"We fast-track a lot of players very quickly. A lot of them [former U21 players] are in this squad now and played a big part in the Euros.

"When you put them back to the 21s that can be complicated. It's a little bit early - we could put them in and they would be absolutely fine, by the way."

There were plenty of calls for Smith Rowe's inclusion for the last round of World Cup qualifiers, at which time Southgate admitted the midfielder was "close" to making the nation's senior side.

Speaking before the clashes against Andorra and Hungary, the England boss revealed: "He is a player we like a lot and he was very close to making this squad.

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"We have brought a lot of youngsters up and that's not always straightforward."

The 21-year-old affectionately dubbed the 'Croydon De Bruyne' by Arsenal fans has already surpassed last season's Premier League goal tally of two.

Despite Smith Rowe's omission, there remains some Arsenal representation in the international fold.

Emile Smith Rowe is a regular for England U-21's, but is yet to feature for the senior side

Bukayo Saka keeps his place, while shot-stopper Aaron Ramsdale has been selected as he aims to take the number one spot from Jordan Pickford.

"We were impressed with what he did with us this summer. He's started well with Arsenal, we are pleased with how he is doing", Southgate explained.

"His distribution with his feet is a bonus for how they play. Aaron and Sam (Johnstone) are definitely providing competition to Jordan."