Liverpool’s Adam Lallana confident but not complacent over being England’s prime creator at 2018 World Cup

The Liverpool midfielder has struggled with a persistent thigh injury all year and has only started three games this season

(Getty)

Adam Lallana has described himself as confident but not complacent about making a late run into the England squad for the World Cup, inspired by the example of Darren Anderton 20 years ago.

The Liverpool midfielder has struggled with a persistent thigh injury all year and has only started three games this season – two in January, one in March – as he struggles to get fit. But Lallana, who is a long-standing favourite of Gareth Southgate, is backing himself to be ready to fly to Russia on 11 June.

Liverpool are almost out of the Premier League title race but they have a two-legged Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City ahead of them. Lallana hopes that the number of demanding games Liverpool have left will be the perfect preparation for him as he tries to reassert his claim to play in attacking midfield for Southgate’s England again.

“If there’s any point of the season to be back fit it’s for the business end,” Lallana said. “I go back to Liverpool now, I’ve got Palace at the weekend, then City, then the Merseyside derby, then City. So it doesn’t stop.”

It has been pointed out to Lallana that Darren Anderton, a similar player, barely played in the 1997-98 season before starring for England at the 1998 World Cup in France, scoring a famous volley against Colombia. Two decades on, Lallana hopes to do the same.

“It’s just about getting that rhythm, to get that you need minutes on the pitch,” Lallana said. “There is plenty of time between now and the end of the season. The assistant told me that in 1998, Anderton had not played a competitive game until 11 April. So that just shows.”

Darren Anderton celebrates scoring against Colombia (Getty Images)

While Lallana is fighting an uphill battle, he trusts in his own ability and in Southgate’s faith in him. Southgate sees Lallana as England’s best creative player and Lallana knows it. Which is why he could speak so confidently about forcing his way back into the squad.

“Me and the boss have got a great relationship,” Lallana revealed. “We’ve been speaking frequently throughout the season. He’s been interested to know where I’ve been on my rehab, I’ve been down to St George’s Park a couple of times, so that’s where the confidence comes from. He recognises what I bring to the team, my team-mates recognise that and I recognise that. Although I’ve been injured, these things happen. I feel I’m physically and mentally as fresh as anyone.”

For this reason, Lallana is still confident of making the squad that will be announced at the end of the season. “Not really,” he responded, when asked if he was ‘sweating’ on a World Cup place. “I’m confident enough in my ability and what I bring to the squad. I’m smart enough not to be complacent to know that there are plenty of talented players that want to make sure, even lads that aren’t here today.”

And he denied that even his good standing with Southgate would make him complacent about getting back in. He knows that he has to earn it. “I’m not built with complacency, at any level. You see that in the way I play. People that manage me know that. My team-mates know that. I’m not built like that.”