Joe Hart to start against Brazil as Gareth Southgate challenges goalkeepers to become England No 1

Gareth Southgate will hand Joe Hart back the number one jersey when England play Brazil on Tuesday night, giving the West Ham United man the chance to reassert his claim to be England’s first-choice goalkeeper.

Hart is under real pressure from young keepers Jordan Pickford and Jack Butland, pressure that has only increased given Pickford’s brilliant performance against Germany at Wembley on Friday night. He kept a clean sheet and made two excellent first saves, confirming his impressive form at Everton so far this season.

But with Butland out with an unfortunately-timed injury, Hart will return to the England team on Tuesday, with a precious change to show what he can still do at the top level.

“Now there is an opportunity for Joe to have experience against top opposition as well,” Southgate explained on Sunday. “We are all aware that there’s really good competition for places in that area of the pitch.”

The initial plan, as Southgate explained, was for Pickford to face Germany and then Butland to play Brazil. But Butland had to withdraw on Thursday with a broken finger, giving Hart the unexpected start on Tuesday, and also meaning a call-up for Angus Gunn, currently on loan from Manchester City to Norwich City.

“At the beginning of the week, we were going to play Jordan Pickford in the first game, Jack Butland in the second,” Southgate said. “Jordan had an excellent game [against Germany]. It was a good experience for him, we can wrap him up now, he can go back, we will assess him in the next period with his club. It is good that he goes away with a real positive experience.”

Pickford’s form for club and now country has led to calls for him to England’s number one at the World Cup in Russia next June, despite his lack of experience. Southgate would not be drawn on whether Pickford can do exactly that but did say he, Butland and Hart now all have time to make their cases.

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“I think we’ve got a period now of six months where all our goalkeeping department can show what they can do,” Southgate said. “What [Pickford] has shown is that he’s been able to make his debut at Wembley, play with composure, show all the things that he’s got. He is still a young goalkeeper who is still learning, there’s things for him to improve on but it was a really positive debut.”

This England squad, and the team set to face Brazil, is remarkably youthful, Southgate re-emphasised how committed he is to England’s “exciting” younger players, and why this is the direction he wants to take England in, even if it might make England slightly less competitive next summer.

“Clearly, it’s not ideal in terms of what you’d want for a major tournament, in terms of how far you might progress and the lack of big game experience,” Southgate said of the squad. “However, I think it’s exciting. We’ve got a freshness about us, an energy about us, that people have enjoyed, we’re a young team. There will be difficult nights, I’m sure, but we’ve got players we believe in, it’s good to invest the time in and the only way for them to get experience is to play.”

As exciting as this time is for England, Southgate would not set a public target in terms of how far in the World Cup he wants his team to progress. Some entertainment and some winning is enough.

“In my mind, my gauge of success would be that we come back from the tournament with the fans proud of how we’ve played,” he said. “That means we’ll have played well and won some matches. The other night, we left Wembley and people were excited by what they saw, enjoyed the game. That’s my desire as the manager to produce a team which sends people home feeling that way.”