5. Grant Holt
Holt has had a sensational season for Norwich bagging 15 league goals, making him the second highest scoring Englishman behind
Wayne Rooney. At 31 years of age an England debut would have been a surprise but if players were picked purely based on form then Holt should have been in with a shout. Fans of Holt will point at the lack of goals from those strikers included in the squad.
Danny Welbeck managed nine league goals and
Jermaine Defoe, 11, but it will be
Andy Carrolls paltry four goals that make him a controversial inclusion. The Geordie target-man is in a similar mould to Holt and had the Norwich man made the squad it would likely have been at Carrolls expense. Welbeck may not be the most clinical of strikers but his form for Manchester United has been good this season and he offers more options than a Carroll or Holt and can also be employed in a wide position. Defoe, despite playing second-fiddle to
Emmanuel Adebayor at Tottenham this year, has a decent goals return given the number of starts he made (11) in the league and he also has England pedigree with 15 goals in 46 appearances for his country. Carroll has showed an upturn in form lately and has clearly played himself into Hodgsons squad. The question is whether a couple of last minute winners against Blackburn and Everton and a lively substitute appearance in an FA Cup final defeat make up for months of mediocrity.