A STAGGERING statistic reveals that 20 England past and present internationals have taken 52 penalties in games and shootouts in the 2023-24 season and missed only ONE — showing a 98 per cent success rate.

The only blemish was Kieran Trippier who fired wide in the penalty shootout for Newcastle at Chelsea in their Carabao Cup quarter-final in December.

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In terms of where England players have netted, it’s a mixed selection with 20 right, 18 left and 13 down the middle.

The stats will make for pretty reading for England fans haunted by penalty misses of yesteryear.

While the Three Lions managed to miss out on being knocked out via a shootout last time out at the World Cup in Qatar, it was still a penalty that cost England dearly.

Harry Kane dispatched his first of the game after 58 minutes but lost his cool when attempting to slot the ball past Lloris for a second time later in the match.

The feeling of England crashing out courtesy of a dreaded spot-kick is a familiar one for football fans.

At the previous tournament, Euro 2020, England were just a penalty shoot-out away from winning their first trophy since 1966.

But England’s record in shoot-outs under Southgate hasn’t been all bad on the whole, despite his own infamy for missing a crucial spot-kick at Euro 96.

The Three Lions triumphed 6-5 on pens over Switzerland in the 2019 Nations League, although it could be argued that the pressure wasn’t nearly as high at the then fledgling Nations League tournament.

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And a year prior to that, the team showed their steel by triumphing 4-3 on pens over Colombia in the round of 16 at the Russia 2018 World Cup courtesy of an Eric Dier pen.

Southgate’s men will be hoping to draw inspiration from those two shoot-outs, plus their players’ generally stellar record from the spot this season – with 51 of their 52 pens scored this season.

One potential difficulty for Southgate though could be getting his takers on the pitch at the same time.

Cole Palmer leads the way in terms of pens scored, but is likely to be behind Bukayo Saka when it comes to a right-wing berth and Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham when it comes to playing in the 10.

Marcus Rashford, James Ward-Prowse and Callum Wilson have all also scored well from the spot this season but haven’t made the cut for Southgate’s initial squad.