Aston Villa's Jacob Ramsey backed for World Cup spot

Villa midfield starlet Ramsey, 20, is enjoying a stunning breakthrough season and scored his first goal for England Under-21s in Friday night’s 4-1 win over Andorra in which Wolves’ Morgan Gibbs-White also netted.

Agbonlahor, the club’s leading top-flight scorer, said: “There’s no reason why he can’t still make the World Cup squad, Jacob. If he carries on the way he’s playing, he keeps the way he’s scoring goals and what he’s doing in games, if I was him I wouldn’t rule out that World Cup squad, injuries and players not performing.

“So he’s just got to keep doing what he’s doing in a Villa shirt. The amount he’s improved in the space of a year, he’s just gone to a different level. He will take players on from midfield, he will run with the ball, he will do the hard yards of defending – he will do it all as a midfielder.”

Former star Merson said: “Philippe Coutinho was very good against Leeds. If you can have players like Jacob Ramsey making runs around him, Coutinho will find them. Coutinho will probably get Ramsey into the England squad.”