Is Gibbs-White favourite to start as England's number 10 at World Cup?
Not only has Morgan Gibbs-White played a crucial role in helping Nottingham Forest reach the verge of Premier League safety, but his resurgence in the second half of the season must have made England manager Thomas Tuchel take notice. The midfielder has scored 13 goals in 35 Premier League games this term, with seven of those strikes coming since the start of March. In May, Gibbs-White was left out of Tuchel's 35-man England squad for the friendlies against Japan and Uruguay.
However, his recent form has arguably sent him to the forefront of the conversation when it comes to who should be England's number 10 at this summer's World Cup. For 20 minutes during Nottingham Forest's 3-1 win at Chelsea on Monday, Cole Palmer and Gibbs-White were on the pitch together. Both players are aiming to convince Tuchel that they deserve their place in the England squad and, in particular, as the first choice in the number 10 role.
Palmer started the match for the Blues, while Gibbs-White came on for the second half. Within six minutes the latter had provided an assist, while Palmer had a match to forget across his 90 minutes on the pitch, seeing a penalty saved and struggling to create opportunities. Palmer has been hampered by injuries this season and that will no doubt have impacted his campaign, during which he has managed just five goal contributions.
Gibbs-White is in much better form than Palmer, but his problem remains that the number 10 is a crowded position. Also vying for that role is Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, Arsenal's Eberechi Eze, Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers and Manchester City's Phil Foden. Of those players, Rogers and Gibbs-White have clocked the most minutes for their clubs this season - at least 1,000 more than the others have managed.
Gibbs-White has the most goal contributions from open play with 16 - 12 goals and four assists, with Rogers two behind on 14. However, no-one is even close to Gibbs-White for form since the turn of the year with 12 of his 16 goal contributions having come since the start of January. In comparison, Rogers has the second most from the other contenders in that time with four.