Gareth Southgate will attend Southampton’s game at Everton on Saturday to scrutinise first-hand the progress of Alex McCarthy in the visitors’ ranks as the England manager considers his options for the national side’s autumn internationals.

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The World Cup semi-finalists confront Spain in the Uefa Nations League at Wembley on 8 September, with a friendly against Switzerland at Leicester’s King Power stadium three days later. Southgate is due to name his squad for the fixtures on 30 August but already knows he will be without Burnley’s Nick Pope for the foreseeable future after the England third choice dislocated a shoulder in the Europa League qualifier at Aberdeen last month.

McCarthy, an England under-21 international, had been called up by Roy Hodgson for the senior side while with Reading back in 2013 and by Sam Allardyce in 2016, as a replacement for the injured Fraser Forster. Yet the goalkeeper remains uncapped and, having endured a nomadic career, has re-established himself as a regular in the Premier League only since breaking into the Southampton side, at Forster’s expense, at the turn of the year.

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The 28-year-old was impressive as Mark Hughes’s side scrambled to safety in the closing weeks of last season, and kept a clean sheet against Burnley on the opening weekend. Southgate’s first-choice, Jordan Pickford, will start at Goodison Park, while the game will also be an opportunity for the manager to consider the form of Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand, Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond.

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The England manager, whose team are now ranked sixth in the world, is due at Manchester City’s home game against Huddersfield on Sunday, before attending Crystal Palace’s home match with Liverpool on Monday night where he will hope to watch Joe Gomez. The young centre-half missed the World Cup through injury but is likely to be recalled to the squad for September’s fixtures. Southgate will also be interested in both right-backs on show, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The latter was sent off on debut for the England under-20s towards the end of last season but, having impressed those within the national set-up, is likely to force his way into the under-21s squad.