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Gareth Southgate has explained his decision to omit Jack Grealish from the latest England squad.

It was widely expected that the Aston Villa captain would be included in the Three Lions camp for the next set of European Championships qualifiers: clashes with Montenegro and Kosovo later this month.

However, that has not been the case with Southgate citing Dean Smith's decision to play him on the wing as a reason why he hasn't been picked.

The 24-year-old has missed the past couple of matches through injury (calf) but had been in fine form before being forced off against Manchester City last month.

Grealish netted an important equaliser in a 2-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion and set up the winner.

The match before, he had scored in a 5-1 rout at Norwich City.

And, amid much ire from neutrals and Villa fans, Southgate has moved to explain his decision.

"He's a very good player - I've watched him closely this season," he said.

"The reality of that is he's up against (Raheem) Sterling, (Marcus) Rashford, (Callum) Hudson-Odoi and (Jadon) Sancho in those wide areas.

"The competition in that area is high level - they're all good players, Jack's a very good player - I worked with him in the under-21s so I know all about him.

"He's very close, he just has to keep playing the way he is, and if we had issues over the weekend, I wouldn't hesitate to call him into the squad."