The 2016 European Championship gets underway on June 10th and England will fancy their chances of reaching the latter stages of a major tournament for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in the 1996 edition on home soil. This summer, Roy Hodgson will have the unenviable task of selecting the 23-man squad for the competition and there are a number of players that MUST be on the plane to France.
Mark Noble is one of those players. The West Ham star has been incredible at the heart of their midfield this season and is fully deserving of a place in the England squad. While Dimitri Payet has continued to steal the limelight, Noble has gone about his work in an industrial, effective manner and England could do much worse than to include the Hammers captain in the squad for this summer’s competition.
The 28-year-old’s impact has been a key reason for West Ham’s rise to prominence in the Premier League this season. As of April 6th, Slaven Bilic’s men sit sixth in the table – just three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City. And while a Champions League place might be a tad far-fetched, the Hammers are on track to finish in the top six and punters can get 10/11 with Coral for Bilic’s side to do just that.
Unfortunately, Hodgson overlooked Noble once again for England’s recent friendly fixtures with Germany and The Netherlands but a disappointing result against the Dutch may force the former Liverpool boss to reconsider. After beating Germany 3-2, many were offering Euro 2016 tips on England to go all the way and win the Euros this summer but a 2-1 defeat to Holland in front of an expectant Wembley Stadium put a downer on these hopes.
With two months until the competition gets underway, Noble still has plenty of time to force his way into Hodgson’s plans. At the time of writing, you can back Noble to make the England squad this summer exclusively at Coral’s website – according to their Euro 2016 tips, he’s 33/1 to achieve this feat. It doesn’t look promising though as despite earning almost 50 caps at youth level, he’s never been selected to play for the senior side.
Hodgson hasn’t ruled Noble out completely and so in that sense, there’s still a chance for the Hammers man to break into the England squad. However, time is running out for the 28-year-old and this summer’s European Championship is the ideal moment for Noble to burst onto the international scene. After all, he can’t do much worse than those who led England to a group stage exit just two years ago in Brazil.
