By Dean White

10th Nov, 2020 | 1:01pm

Gary Lineker: West Ham ace Cresswell must be knocking on door for England call-up

Gary Lineker believes Aaron Cresswell should be in line for a return to the England squad due to his recent stellar form at West Ham.

Cresswell, 30, last played for England in 2017 when he played all 90 minutes of a 1-0 win over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying.

The former Ipswich left-back has only ever earned three caps for the Three Lions but based on his recent string of performances, Lineker reckons he could be on Gareth Southgate’s mind at the moment.

“Aaron Cresswell is not in the England squad but he must be knocking on the door,” Lineker said on Match of the Day, as quoted by West Ham’s official website on Tuesday.

Jermaine Jenas responded by saying: “I think we’ve got a player here who is playing out of his skin. I feel we’ve got a player who is playing on the left of a three, he can play left-back and he is one of West Ham’s most creative players.

“We saw one of his set pieces he whipped in… He’s a threat and he’s been a threat against every team he’s come up against. He gets himself into these midfield positions and he puts the icing on the cake by absolutely whipping a free-kick towards the top corner and I think there is a little tiny touch that stops him scoring.”

Cresswell’s spent most of this season playing as a left-sided centre-back in West Ham’s back-three – but that doesn’t mean he’s not chipping in offensively.

He’s assisted three goals in his eight Premier League appearances this season with stats by WyScout showing that he’s completed 46.2 per cent of his crosses, 41 per cent of long-passes and assisted 1.86 shots per 90 minutes of league action.

When doing his defensive duties, Cresswell has also been brilliant by averaging 8.95 recoveries, 3.95 interceptions and 2.09 clearances per 90 minutes in the Premier League.

Cresswell’s best performance of the season arguably came away at Leicester last month when he assisted two of West Ham’s goals in a 3-0 win at the King Power Stadium.

The three-times England international also made a stunning nine interceptions, 11 recoveries and completed 81 per cent of his passes.

If Southgate wants to play with a back-three then he shouldn’t look much further than Cresswell to slot in.

But the West Ham defender needs to prove that the form he’s in is not just a purple patch because Southgate cannot just call up every player who’s the flavour of the month otherwise he’ll have to consistency to his squad.

Cresswell needs to earn a spot in the England squad by playing well over a longer duration of time than just a couple of months.

In other West Ham news, Sebastien Haller’s display against Fulham has been analysed.