Five goalies to stand in for injured Ben Foster on England duty

England boss Roy Hodgson will not be able to call upon his old club goalkeeper at West Bromwich Albion, Ben Foster, for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania and friendly in Italy, because of a knee injury.

The Three Lions are 12/1 shots with Coral to win the tournament in France, and must select three stoppers in their squad for all competitive matches en route.

Foster is ruled out of action for a month, so that got our football experts thinking who could deputise for him on Hodgson’s roster? We put our heads together and came up with five alternatives:

Karl Darlow
This stopper shall be in the Premier League next term come what may, as Newcastle United now own his contract. Darlow, 24, has previously rejected overtures from Wales, who he could represent through his famous footballing grandfather Ken Leek, so Hodgson should be wary of this.

Keeping 11 clean sheets in his final Championship campaign with 14/1 top six chances Nottingham Forest so far, he was strong both stopping shots and at crosses in a recent 0-0 draw at Leeds United.

Lee Grant
Despite missing several matches with a broken foot, ex-England Under-21 international Grant, now 32, has still managed to seal 13 shut-outs for Derby County, one of the Championship title contenders at 5/1.

Robert Green
He may be 35, but QPR keeper Green has certainly been busy this term. Five clean sheets is not a great record, but nobody has made more saves (104).

Capped a dozen times for England already, giving Green a squad spot just as cover couldn’t Hurt. Joe Hart and Fraser Forster are the main goalies, but an older head could help Hodgson in training.

Tom Heaton
A Manchester United academy product, Heaton has endured something of a journeyman career after earning three Under-21 caps between 2008 and 2009.