England Squad Numbers For World Cup Suggest This Could Be Gareth Southgate's Favored XI

England's squad numbers for the 2022 World Cup have been revealed by manager Gareth Southgate. Those numbers point to Southgate favoring a 4-2-3-1 formation.

England's squad numbers for the 2022 World Cup were revealed by manager Gareth Southgate on Monday.

Captain Harry Kane was unsurprisingly given the no.9 jersey to match his status as the team's lead frontman.

Meanwhile, Jordan Pickford was confirmed as no.1, meaning he will likely be Southgate's first-choice goalkeeper in Qatar, ahead of Nick Pope (no.13) and Aaron Ramsdale (no.23).

Locked in. 🔐

Your #ThreeLions squad numbers for the @FIFAWorldCup! pic.twitter.com/9WfydoCNLf

— England (@England) November 14, 2022

Traditionally, a manager reserves the numbers one to 11 for the players they expect to feature in their strongest starting XI.

If Southgate has stayed true to that method then Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Jack Grealish, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford are also likely to start.

Southgate switched between a 3-4-3 formation and a 4-2-3-1 system at Euro 2020.

He has the players to comfortably operate in either shape in Qatar, although his first XI based on squad numbers would better suit a 4-2-3-1.

England's first XI for the 2022 FIFA World Cup based on their squad numbers / sharemytactics.com

1. Jordan Pickford	14. Kalvin Phillips
2. Kyle Walker	15. Eric Dier
3. Luke Shaw	16. Conor Coady
4. Declan Rice	17. Bukayo Saka
5. John Stones	18. Trent Alexander-Arnold
6. Harry Maguire	19. Mason Mount
7. Jack Grealish	20. Phil Foden
8. Jordan Henderson	21. Ben White
9. Harry Kane	22. Jude Bellingham
10. Raheem Sterling	23. Aaron Ramsdale
11. Marcus Rashford	24. Callum Wilson
12. Kieran Trippier	25. James Maddison
13. Nick Pope	26. Conor Gallagher