Trent Alexander-Arnold working on England midfield role for past year

Trent Alexander-Arnold revealed he has been working on his midfield role with England over the last year as he lauded Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham for their performances alongside him in the Euro 2024 win over Serbia.

Arguably Gareth Southgate's biggest decision before the Group C opener was who to deploy next to Rice in the centre of the pitch, with Alexander-Arnold given the nod over the likes of Conor Gallagher and Kobbie Mainoo.

England secured a 1-0 win courtesy of an early Bellingham header, with Alexander-Arnold’s performance splitting opinion as he was replaced by Gallagher with 20 minutes remaining in Gelsenkirchen.

A right-back at Liverpool, Southgate has been working on transforming Alexander-Arnold’s game on the international stage and the 25-year-old spoke after the win about the effort that has gone into the shift.

"I was prepared and not just through myself, but especially the manager and (assistant manager) Steve Holland have worked very hard over the past year for me to understand and know the role that I’m being asked to do," he told beIN Sports.

"Not only that, I’m playing with two of the, if not the two best midfielders in football right now, in Declan and Jude. So I’m in good company when I’m in there, they’ve helped me."

England 1-0 Serbia highlights

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On his own display, Alexander-Arnold said his performance would be analysed ahead of the second group game against Denmark on Thursday.

He is likely to retain his place in a team that dropped off