England 2-1 Switzerland: 'Jordan Pickford shows why he remains number one'

Jordan Pickford's continued presence as England's first-choice goalkeeper is accompanied by regular noise about whether he deserves the loyalty of manager Gareth Southgate.

It is a debate brought into even sharper focus in a World Cup year, when every Southgate selection will come under close scrutiny as we build towards the tournament in Qatar in November and December.

The countdown is well and truly under way as Southgate finalises his plans and conducts experiments in this international break, with friendlies at Wembley against Switzerland, then Ivory Coast on Tuesday.

The emergence of Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal has placed renewed pressure on Pickford to keep performing, while Burnley's Nick Pope also has his supporters.

The bottom line, however, is Pickford remains Southgate's undisputed pick and deservedly so, even if the Everton keeper's detractors continue to look for faults in his game.

Under the radar, he has been consistent in a desperately mediocre Everton side since the second half of last season, and was one of England's outstanding performers in their run to their agonising Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy.

And here again, as England came from behind to beat Switzerland 2-1, Pickford showed exactly why Southgate is unmoved by questions about his goalkeeper.

Pickford excelled as England struggled to keep the Swiss at bay, producing a fine save from Granit Xhaka and an even better reflex stop to turn Fabian Frei's powerful close-range shot on to the bar — crucial in the context of the game as it prevented the visitors going two up.

He was also calm with ball at his feet and commanding in his area, drawing deserved post-match praise from his manager.

Opta statistics lend weight to Pickford's case, too. He has played