Raheem 're-emerges' in time for England
Raheem Sterling's stellar form for Liverpool since returning to Brendan Rodgers' starting XI in December has caught the attention of England as the nation prepares for this summer's World Cup.
The 19-year-old has been selected from the start in each of the Reds' last 14 Barclays Premier League fixtures, synchronising in style with Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez, and notching five goals.
Two of those strikes arrived during the 5-1 rout against Arsenal last weekend, when five Englishmen were named in the manager's team that destroyed the then league leaders at Anfield.
Sterling's displays in the past two-and-a-half months have not gone unnoticed by Three Lions coach Roy Hodgson either - with the wide-man once again part of his thinking ahead of a March friendly with Denmark.
Hodgson commented: "Sterling emerging and doing as well as he is in a top team just puts a lot of pressure on everybody else, because if you can do it at the top of the table with Liverpool then you can do it in an England shirt.
"It's a re-emergence for him in a way. We gave him his debut against Sweden, when we opened the stadium in Stockholm, and he had burst into the Liverpool team and was doing fantastically well. Then he lost his place and almost disappeared. He wasn't on the radar to such an extent.
"Then I remember having that U21 game against Scotland last summer and being very impressed with him, but at a time when he still hadn't really burst back into the Liverpool team.
"But now, since he's back in the Liverpool team, his form seems to be going up and up and up. And it means we do have competition in wide areas, on the right and left."
[OTPA_WIDGET_CONTENT]
Hodgson can choose from a large pool of wide players as he attempts to hone the squad which will travel to Brazil for the World Cup, although the 66-year-old is retaining an open mind at present.
He added: "It's going to be a choice - how many of that type of player do I want to include in the squad and which ones? But it's very good for me.
"If I could bottle the form of some of the players now and make certain they took that to the first game in June that would be wonderful, but you don't know what the intervening months will bring."