West Ham might just be alright under Nuno Espirito Santo and Jack Grealish is one of three Everton players Thomas Tuchel should be considering for England.

Aside from Jordan Pickford, Jarrad Branthwaite is the only Everton player to have won an England cap since Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s last appearance for the Three Lions in July 2021. The 28-minute cameo in a 3-0 friendly win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in June 2024 is the centre-back’s only cap to date, though he may well have had more had injuries not kept him out at the start of this season.

Everton boss David Moyes expects Branthwaite “back shortly” and if the left-footed centre-back performs at a similar level to last season he’s got a very good chance of making Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad. At this rate, he could be joined by not one, not two, but maybe even three outfield Toffees teammates.

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“To go every three days and get better and better with every minute that he has in his legs. That’s what is missing, nothing else,” Tuchel said when asked why then Manchester City star Jack Grealish needed to do to get himself back in the England squad.

And yet, after four assists in two games ahead of the last international break having found that consistent game time at Everton, Tuchel again snubbed Grealish, who has 39 caps for England, with his last appearance coming against Finland under interim boss Lee Carsley in October last year.

That’s more assists than any other Premier League player and only Bruno Fernandes (2.7) has played more key passes per 90 minutes than Grealish (2.6), who’s also predictably the most fouled player (22), granting Everton – and England, should he be called up – valuable opportunity to deliver from those all-important set pieces.

He continues to operate on the left wing for Everton amid suggestions after the move that he may move back into a No.10 role he looked to thoroughly enjoy in two of his three England appearances under Carsley, largely because of the consistent excellence of fellow summer signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, whom he’s developed an excellent relationship with in double-quick time at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Having never been given the opportunity to prove his worth to Chelsea in the Premier League, he was outstanding again for Everton here, combining quality in possession with serious energy out of it to win the ball back in favourable positions. Remarkably, he’s third behind Grealish for key passes per 90 in the Premier League this season on 2.4.

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But it was the last of the three England hopefuls James Garner who got the assist for Everton with an excellent whipped cross for Michael Keane, who headed in brilliantly, though probably not quite brilliantly enough to be in the running for an England call like his three teammates. We’ve not gone entirely mad.

While Grealish (7.41) is the highest-ranked Englishman in the Premier League according to the WhoScored ratings this season, Garner (7.24) is fourth behind Marc Guehi (7.34) and Trevoh Chalobah (7.28), and Dewsbury-Hall (7.10) is seventh after Dan Ballard (7.14) and Nick Pope (7.14).

Jarrod Bowen was in the last England squad and scored the equaliser to earn West Ham a point in Nuno Espirito Santo’s first game in charge after some quite stunning work by left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf, who tore past two Everton players before delivering the ball to the back post.

And there were already signs of quite significant improvement under Nuno, particularly in the second half, when Crysencio Summerville came to the fore and the team as a whole looked to have far more determination to get back into a game than at any point under Graham Potter.

Momentum had undoubtedly shifted quite dramatically in favour of the away team for most of the second half, but a phase of play in the 90th minute showed why Tuchel may indeed call on some or all of Grealish, Garner and Dewsbury-Hall when he picks his England squad next month.

Grealish killed a lofted pass dead, drew defenders towards him and laid the ball back perfectly to the edge of the box. Garner’s fierce strike was blocked by Alphonse Areola. And although Dewsbury-Hall was cautioned for a foul in trying to win the ball back, the desire and energy was there at such a late stage of the game.