Ben Foster tells Elliot Anderson what he ‘needs’ to do for Nottingham Forest to earn an England spot

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Nottingham Forest made a dream start to the Premier League season on Sunday by beating Brentford 3-1, with Elliot Anderson one of the stars of the show.

Forest fans were in awe of Anderson’s performance on Sunday as he and Ibrahim Sangare dominated the midfield area, while also getting forward to link up with Morgan Gibbs-White.

As a result of his display, Anderson was named in the Team of the Week by Troy Deeney, the only Forest inclusion in what could’ve been a full XI of Garibaldi red.

Clearly, then, Anderson’s display caught the attention of those outside the City Ground, but to enter the thoughts of Thomas Tuchel, former England goalkeeper Ben Foster believes he still needs to improve one aspect of his game.

What Elliot Anderson must do to earn an England call-up

Alongside new signings Omari Hutchinson and James McAtee, Anderson helped the England U21s retain the European Championship over the summer, setting the midfielder on the right path to a career in the senior set-up.

However, according to Foster on his Football Fill In YouTube show, the 22-year-old still has a missing piece to his game.

Foster said: “He [Anderson] just needs to add a lot more assists and goals to his game. If you look at his record last season for Forest, […] he doesn’t get many assists and he doesn’t get many goals so if he can start chipping in with more of them, then he’d stand a chance of getting in that team [England].”

Anderson registered two goals and six assists last season, but only one of those assists came after the turn of the year, suggesting that a little more consistency on that front could’ve seen him hit much more impressive figures.

Delving deeper into Foster’s point about the depth of the England squad, though, Anderson’s display on Sunday should give him a strong chance of getting ahead of some of the names in Tuchel’s last group.

Elliot Anderson can outshine England rivals this season

Of course, Gibbs-White was in Tuchel’s England squad in June so ideally Anderson won’t take his place, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to stake a claim when looking at the other candidates.

• Jude Bellingham
• Conor Gallagher
• Jordan Henderson
• Curtis Jones
• Cole Palmer
• Declan Rice

Rice and Bellingham will naturally command a place in central midfield, but Anderson will surely fancy his chances of ousting the likes of Henderson and Gallagher if he can continue Sunday’s form.

Henderson started on the bench for Brentford while Gallagher has been made available for transfer by Atletico Madrid, making the Forest star one of the few available to Tuchel who is playing regular football.

All Anderson has to do then is continue to shine regularly for Nuno Espírito Santo, and Tuchel will have no choice but to consider him.