Five alternative England forwards to Jay Rodriguez for the World Cup

Jay Rodriguez, the Southampton attacker who has scored as many Premier League goals as Wayne Rooney, joins Theo Walcott on the treatment table, instead of going to the World Cup with England.

A serious and graphic knee injury sustained as the Saints lost 4-1 at the Etihad to top-flight title favourites Manchester City ended his hopes of going to Brazil. It took a few days to be confirmed but, now that it is, Roy Hodgson may be looking at contingency plans.

Coral experts suggest five forwards that could make the Three Lions’ World Cup roster instead of Rodriguez.

Andy Carroll – 10/11
West Ham target man Carroll missed the first half of the campaign injured, but is now odds-on to be in Brazil. His recent match-winning performance, scoring a goal and also assisting another, up at Sunderland caught the eye.

Even Brendan Rodgers, the man who got rid of Carroll from Liverpool, has been championing him. The Reds boss described his former player as “one of the best in Europe in the situation where the ball is played up to him”.

Can Hodgson fit both Carroll and Rodriguez’s Southampton teammate Rickie Lambert (11/10) into his squad? Wayne Rooney (1/50), Daniel Sturridge (1/25) and Danny Welbeck (1/6) are locks to go, so perhaps not. Carroll has youth on his side, but Lambert is in double figures.

Adam Johnson – 10/1
Sunderland winger and top-scorer Johnson was name-checked by Hodgson in the run-up to the March friendly with Denmark, but missed out on selection. That snub did not go down too well with one of 2014’s in-form players.

“I don’t think it really matters how well you are playing,” Johnson told the local press. “It’s who you play for.” There may be some truth in these claims, as Coral explored when he made them, but how wise was it to come out and say it?

Johnson’s odds of going to the World Cup have since doubled in length from 5/1. Sunderland are bottom of the table, and last won a Premier League game on February 1st. His comments may have come back to bite him but, with Rodriguez out, might Hodgson consider bringing him in from the cold?