Thomas Tuchel will announce his England squad on Friday, and he is not expected to follow Jurgen Klopp's lead after the Germany boss selected 44 players for their Nations League matches.
England face four games in ten days, starting with Spain at Wembley on Saturday, September 26, followed by a trip to the Czech Republic three days later. They then travel to Croatia for the third game on Saturday, October 3, before playing the Czechs again at Wembley on October 6.
Fixture congestion and squad rotation
The condensed schedule means some Premier League clubs will not play for 21 days after this weekend, with top-flight fixtures resuming on October 10. The autumn calendar has just two international breaks instead of the usual three, which is causing concern among club managers.
Tuchel is likely to rotate his players across the four fixtures and name a 23-man squad with an extra three or four players to cover the workload. International bosses can select as many players as they wish, but cannot include them all in the matchday squad for each game.
Players in contention
Extended numbers could open the door for Bournemouth's Alex Scott, while Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly and Everton's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have impressed. Fulham's Josh King has also caught Tuchel's eye, along with Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Hall.
Ngumoha, Scott and King all attended England's pre-World Cup training camp in Florida and are understood to have impressed. Ethan Nwaneri also went to Florida and has since joined Borussia Dortmund on loan.
Injury concerns and goalkeeper battle
John Stones is set to miss out through injury after going off for Inter Milan this week, while Djed Spence has also been absent. Ben White is an injury doubt, and Jordan Henderson and Dean Henderson are both out.
Everton's Jarrad Braithwaite has played well in front of Tuchel. Jason Steele looks set to be the third-choice goalkeeper behind Jordan Pickford and James Trafford, a reward for the Brighton veteran who travelled with the squad as part of the World Cup training set-up.
