Jake Livermore placed on England 'standby list' for World Cup

The Albion midfielder has seen a recent up-turn in form, despite the club's relegation from the Premier League, scoring in the games against Liverpool and Spurs and earning a Premier League player of the month nomination for April.

However, those recent performances haven't done enough to convince Gareth Southgate to bring him to Russia as part of his 23-man squad for the tournament.

Should a player become unavailable or withdraw from the squad which begins its summer showings against Tunisia on June 18th, Livermore could be in line to join his England teammates in the tournament.

He joins Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook and Adam Lallana in being placed on the back-up list. They will train with the squad ahead of the tournament.

Southgate previously defended his decision to pick the former Hull midfielder in his recent friendlies with Holland and Italy.

"It’s very straightforward for me. We’ve played Jake in several matches and he’s done a job for the team. In November, we left him out and he was just about to board a plane." Southgate said.

"He left the family at the airport, he came in, he did really well for us against Germany and Brazil, and I think that has to carry some weight when you are building the spirit and culture around your team."

West Brom boss Darren Moore had previously backed Livermore to head to Russia, claiming he was 'on track' for the tournament.

Players selected for Southgate's squad will link up next week, although Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool players will be given extra time off due to commitments in other competitions.

The full England squad consists of: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack Butland, Gary Cahill, Dele Alli, Fabian Delph, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Phil Jones, Harry Kane, Jesse Lingard, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Harry Maguire, Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Marcus Rashford, Danny Rose, Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Jamie Vardy, Kyle Walker, Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young.