Palmer & Foden on target - but Rogers 'has to start' at World Cup

Team England

On a weekend when Phil Foden and Cole Palmer helped Manchester City and Chelsea to vital Premier League victories, Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers showed just why he retains a firm grip on the number 10 position in Thomas Tuchel's England set-up.

Villa's eight-match winning run in all competitions appeared under serious threat at the midway point of Sunday's game at third-bottom West Ham, who led 2-1 at the break against a side who appeared jaded and short of inspiration after Thursday's Europa League victory at Basel.

In the second half, however, Rogers decided to take matters into his own hands.

The 23-year-old scored his first of the afternoon five minutes into the second half, making it 2-2 from close range after West Ham had failed to clear Youri Tielemans' low cross into the box.

Then, with the final 10 minutes approaching, Rogers collected a loose ball 30 yards from goal and was given time and space to slam a powerful, swerving strike into the top right corner of Alphonse Areola's goal and clinch a ninth straight victory for Unai Emery's third-placed team.

That magnificent effort capped a fine all-round performance from Rogers and reaffirmed his status as England's first-choice number 10 at next summer's World Cup - despite world-class competition from Foden, Palmer and Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham.

"He scored two fantastic goals and, for me, he is not just going to be in the squad next summer," said former England forward and Match of the Day pundit Theo Walcott. "He is a dead cert to be a starter for England at the World Cup - 100%.

"He does everything, he's not just a goal threat. I like all [the contenders for the number 10 position], but one of them is going to have to miss out on the squad itself - and Rogers, for me, has to start."

As Walcott alluded to, Rogers was not merely a goal threat in Sunday's 3-2 win, despite registering five of Villa's seven attempts.

He enjoyed more touches inside the West Ham box than any of his colleagues at London Stadium, while he also completed more than 90% of his 22 passes in the final third - the joint-highest ratio among Villa players.

"He is such an intelligent player," added Walcott. "He's the kind of player that recognises a weakness in the structure of the team."

Reflecting on Rogers' delightful second goal, the former Arsenal player continued: "You think of [Cristiano] Ronaldo and how, if you give them time and space on the ball when they shoot from distance, they are able to manipulate the ball the way they want to. Well, Rogers is able to do that.

"Of course, he got that space he was looking for against West Ham. If you give time and space to any player like that, you are in trouble, especially him because of the way he hits the ball."

Unsurprisingly, Rogers said after the game he was "pretty confident right now".

He got eight league goals last season and has five already in this campaign.

Rogers told Match of the Day: "I'm scoring quite a few lately. If I score and we win, then I'm happy. I want to score as much as possible and help the team.

"At the moment we're in a great run, so let's see where that takes us."