England squad: Gareth Southgate recalls Ollie Watkins for Australia and Italy games

England manager Gareth Southgate has recalled Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins for October’s games against Australia and Italy at Wembley.

Watkins, who last featured for England in March 2022, continued his impressive start to the season with a hat-trick against Brighton on Saturday.

Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling is left out of a fourth successive squad.

England play Australia in a friendly on 13 October and Italy in a Euro 2024 qualifier on 17 October.

Watkins, 27, said he did not think he could “do any more” to earn a recall after taking his tally to seven goals and three assists in 11 games this season.

“Ollie has started the season well, he’s hit a bit of scoring form in the last couple of weeks,” Southgate said.

“You have to be careful with that because you can’t just go on recency bias with selection.

“But he is in good form and obviously coming in on a high and he’s been with us before so we know his character, his personality. He is a good guy around the group.”

Ollie Watkins (Photo by James Gill/Getty Images)

West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen, called up to the England squad for the first time in May 2022, returns after missing out on September’s squad.

Bukayo Saka, also included, is “still being assessed” after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta described the winger’s latest injury – a muscular problem which forced him off after 34 minutes against Lens on Tuesday – as “a worry”.

Having received their first call-ups to the England squad for September’s fixtures, Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah and Chelsea centre-back Levi Colwill are both named again.