Nick Pope is set to be given more chances to stake his claim as England’s first-choice goalkeeper ahead of the European Championship – with manager Gareth Southgate ready to play him in the next two World Cup qualifiers.

Jordan Pickford has been established as Southgate’s number one for some time but has missed out on the ongoing international triple-header with an abdominal injury.

That left both Burnley’s Pope and Manchester United’s Dean Henderson vying for the gloves for the qualifiers against San Marino, Albania and Poland.

The rescheduled Euro 2020 is next up on the international calendar and Pope looks in pole position to challenge Pickford for a place between the posts.

The Clarets shot-stopper played in Thursday’s 5-0 win over San Marino, taking his run of clean sheets to five in five for England, and Southgate revealed he is set to keep his spot for the next two fixtures.

“Nick was always going to play the next games anyway,” Southgate said when asked if Pope had been given a chance to show his worth in a routine win over the world’s worst ranked footballing nation.

“He has been really patient for his opportunity and has performed consistently at a high level every week for his club and has been with us for a very long time waiting for this moment.

“He is a very calm character and I really like his personality. We obviously knew he was not going to be overworked but I am sure that will be different in the next games.”