England World Cup Odds: Can James Maddison push his way into Gareth Southgate's squad?

Leicester grabbed their first win of the season on Monday night but it was once again James Maddison who stole the headlines, renewing talk that he deserves a place in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad for the forthcoming tournament in Qatar.

The Foxes managed an emphatic 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest last night with marvelous Maddison scoring two goals from outside the area as well as providing an assist for Patson Daka to grab the final goal of the game. 

After that dazzling display that earned the 25-year-old a perfect 10 rating on WhoScored, it now means that Harry Kane is the only other English man to have more goal contributions to their name since the start of last season, with the Tottenham and England talisman the current favourite in the World Cup Top Goalscorer Market.

Below you can see how Maddison has performed against fellow England attacking midfielders since the start of the 2021/2022 season, coming out top form goals and assists combined.

Another stat we were surprised to hear is that since May 11 2022, only the monster that is Erling Haaland (17) has more goal contributions in the Premier League than Maddison (14), who is level with Kevin De Bruyne in that period. 

After some glowing endorsements from manager Brenden Rodgers in his interview after the thumping of Forest, Maddison himself participated in an interview on Monday Night Football with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. 

“It has been a weird position because we have been bottom of the league, but I have been as confident as I ever have been,” quoted Maddison. “I don’t remember over the past 12 months playing better and feeling better”.
 

Latest Odds to make the squad

According to bookmaker be365, at the start of September Maddison could be backed at 7/1, before a strong performance against Antonio Conte’s Spurs which saw him clipped into 5/1. 

However, after last night’s classy performance, Maddison has been cut into 7/4 to make the 2022 squad for the World Cup in Qatar. Those odds imply a 36% chance that Maddison will be on that plane in November, and you can find prices for all other players making the 26-man squad below. 

Should Maddison make the World Cup squad? Let us know in the poll below. England are currently 7/1 with most firms to lift the trophy in Qatar, although Unibet are currently offering the best price available at 17/2.