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Why Charlie Austin deserves to be in the England squad

| 11.11.2014

Roy Hodgson rewarded form to a certain extent by including Saido Berahino in his latest England squad but Charlie Austin showed once again why the Three Lions boss has dropped the ball in not naming the QPR striker.

Austin put in another star performance for the Rs against Manchester City, scoring the opening goal in the 2-2 draw at Loftus Road.

That strike means Austin, who was tipped for an England call up by Ladbrokes News back in May, has now bagged more goals than three of the four strikers in Hodgson’s squad for the upcoming games against Slovenia and Scotland.

Berahino is the top English scorer so far this season, with seven strikes in 11 games, and has rightly been given his promotion from the U21 side.

However, of the other three strikers, Wayne Rooney has scored three, Danny Welbeck two and Rickie Lambert none.

With Rooney now the captain and Welbeck able to operate out wide it is understandable that these men, both experienced international operators, have been selected but when you consider the stats Lambert’s inclusion beggars belief.

Austin has played 10 games so far, while the Liverpool man has just one start to his name and eight sub appearances.

The QPR man has two assists to his name, bettered only by Rooney, and again Lambert has failed to set up a converted chance.

Austin has also proved the most adept at getting into goalscoring opportunities with an average of 3.5 shots per game so far this season.

With seven goals and 2.8 shots per game Berahino is clearly the player with his shooting boots on, but Austin is even overshadowing Rooney (2.9), Welbeck (3.3) and obviously Lambert (0.4!) in this regard.

Anyone taking the 5/6 on Austin hitting over 8.5 goals this season – as tipped up in our article in May -won’t have long until they can count their winnings, and for those that were tempted by the 9/2 on an England call up and the 6/1 on an England goal surely it’s just a matter of time.

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Author

James Curtis

After studying for a degree in journalism and gaining his NCTJ, James contributed to a wide range of papers, online publications and broadcasters including the South London Press, Press Association and Sky Sports News before joining the Ladbrokes News team.