The 2022 World Cup in Qatar starts on the 20th November during an unprecedented period in the football year for London’s Premier League clubs.
This world cup is the first ever to be played over November and December in middle of the Premier League season and leaves England manager Gareth Southgate with less than two weeks to bring his squad together once the league breaks up.
Given the quick turnaround for England and the other competing nations, here’s who we may see representing their country from the London’s Premier League clubs.
Despite injuries to starting defenders Ben Chilwell and Reece James, Chelsea are the team with the most players going with 15 potential players. These include: Edouard Mendy (Senegal), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal), Mateo Kovacic (Croatia), Mason Mount (England), Christian Pulisic (USA), Hakim Ziyech (Morocco), Kai Havertz (Germany), Denis Zakaria, Switzerland) and Raheem Sterling (England).
With injuries a concern, the other players on the fringes of their respective squads are: Kepa Arrizabalaga (Spain), Marc Cucurella (Spain), Trevor Chalobah (England), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (England) and Conor Gallagher (England).
Tottenham Hotspur fans could see as many as 12 players of their players at the tournament with players likely to go such as: Hugo Lloris (France), Christian Romero (Argentina), Eric Dier (England), Ben Davies (Wales), Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg (Denmark), Rodrigo Bentancur (Uruguay), Ivan Perisic (Croatia), Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal), Heung-min Son (South Korea), Richarlison (Brazil) and Harry Kane (England). We could see Clement Lenglet (France) in Qatar after injury to Raphael Varane in recent weeks.
North London Rivals Arsenal could enjoy watching 11 of their players play for their country, but this won’t include attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard after Norway failed to qualify. These players include: Aaron Ramsdale (England), Matt Turner (USA), Ben White (England), Cedric Soares (Portugal), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Japan), William Saliba (France), Thomas Partey (Ghana), Bukayo Saka (England), Granit Xhaka (Switzerland), Gabriel Jesus (Brazil) and Gabriel Martinelli (Brazil).
Brentford will see a majority of their Danish contingent travel to Qatar with a potential seven players going including England striker Ivan Toney, pending the outcome of his FA investigation around betting allegations. The list of players who could go includes: David Raya (Spain), Christian Norgaard (Denmark), Mathias Jensen (Denmark), Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), Mikkel Damsgaard (Denmark), Saman Ghoddos (Iran) and the aforementioned Ivan Toney (England).
West Ham, who made it into the Europa Conference League knockout stages on Thursday, could also watch seven players in Qatar. They are: Alphonse Areola (France), Nayef Aguerd (Morocco), Aaron Creswell (England), Thilo Kehrer (Germany), Declan Rice (England), Jarrod Bowen (England) and Lucas Paqueta (Brazil).
Crystal Palace fans can join top goalscorer Wilfried Zaha in watching the World Cup on TV like the rest of us as Ivory Coast came up short losing to Cameroon in the qualifiers. There are possibly 7 players who could be there including: Tyrick Mitchell (England), Chris Richards (USA), Marc Guehi (England), Joachim Andersen (Denmark), Luka Milivojevic (Serbia), Jeffrey Schlupp (Ghana) and Jordan Ayew (Ghana).
Finally, Fulham fans will be hoping Aleksander Mitrovic and the other five players potentially remain healthy through his tournament. The Serbian striker has nine goals this season, three times as many as the next highest scorer. He is joined by: Antonee Robinson (USA), Kevin Mbabu (Switzerland), Joao Palhinha (Portugal), Daniel James (Wales) and Harry Wilson (Wales).
The tournament gets underway on Sunday 20th November with hosts Qatar entertaining Ecuador at 7pm GMT in the Al Bayt Stadium. This game is televised on BBC One.
Southgate is due to announce his squad of 26 players for the tournament on November 10 at 2pm GMT. Leaving just more than a week before his first game of the tournament against Iran in Doha. The game will be broadcast on BBC One at 1pm on Monday 21st. Wales’s first game is on the same day as England and is against the USA at 4pm on Channel Four.
Featured Image: Credited to Serg Stallone under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
