Ollie Watkins Photo: VCG

Euro 2020 favorites England take on the mighty San Marino, Albania and Poland this international break in FIFA 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

The games - which should see the Three Lions pick up six points in their quest for Qatar next year - will more importantly help manager Gareth Southgate toward deciding who will make his squad for this summer.

Southgate's biggest decisions going into this international break were arguably at right-back and striker.

The right-back spot is one where England are blessed with talent and this time Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold missed out along with the uncapped Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Up front two other uncapped players were vying for a spot in Southgate's squad - Patrick Bamford of Leeds United and Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins.

The England boss plumped for Watkins, though he admitted it was a difficult choice between the in-form strikers.

"Both Ollie and Patrick in particular, their goals record has been good," Southgate said naming the squad.

Devon-born Watkins has scored 10 times in the Premier League for Villa this season since signing from Brentford, while Bamford has 14 for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds side.

"We like the personalities of both," Southgate continued. "Ollie is a player who we've had less interaction with in the past. It's going to be good to get to know him.

"We like his pressing, we like his speed and runs in behind. There's some ­improvements he could make with linking the game. But for his first in the Premier League and at a big club, he's done exceptionally well."

Watkins has done "exceptionally well." He now stands on the shoulders of an international cap and following in the footsteps of the other non-league players to make it to to the national team.

Those include Jamie Vardy,  Peter Crouch, Stan Collymore, Ian Wright, Michail Antonio, Danny Ings, Charlie Austin, Les Ferdinand, Kevin Phillips and Rickie Lambert in recent years. It is a surprisingly well-trodden path.

As Vardy's former chairman David Bosomworth at Halifax Town said in an interview about his most famous signing, "Some of these lads just need a chance." Watkins is the latest in that line but still it is little wonder that the England squad was not on the striker's mind when he got a message from Villa ahead of the squad being made public.

"I got a WhatsApp message from our club secretary, Sharon Barnhurst, asking me to give her a ring," Watkins said.

"Two days prior to that, I'd spoken to her because she said, 'I'm sorry, but you've received a club fine' - it was just for a ­couple of small issues at the training ground.

"Obviously, I thought it was about that again. Anyway, I got through to her and said, 'Hi Sharon, you're chasing me for this money, aren't you?'

"And she said, 'No - I've got better news for you, you've been called up to the England squad.'"

Watkins could not take it in, he said.

"I honestly couldn't believe it. I had to sit down with the shock.

"My girlfriend was on a work call, so I couldn't tell her until she had finished.

"After I'd told her and she went back to work, I had to sit there, on my own, for two hours not being able to tell a soul. There was an embargo on the news. I couldn't even ring my mum - because she probably would have told every Tom, Dick and Harry out there.

"I had no signal on my phone, anyway, I had to walk around the place trying to find 3G.

"I couldn't get hold of my dad, either. He's a carpenter - he was on site. Eventually, I rang him and all I could hear was tools going off in the background.It was a nightmare.

"When I eventually got through he had already been told by his work colleagues, which was a shame. But when I got some ­coverage my phone was pinging constantly."

The striker started out at Exeter City, signing professional terms in April 2014 and making his debut at the end of that 2013-14 League Two season.

At the start of the following season the Grecians sent Watkins out on loan to Weston Super Mare in the Conference South and the initial one-month term was extended to see the striker see out the season at the seaside non-league side.

"Going to Weston opened my eyes. There was a lot of physical contact. I was used to youth-team games and reserve-team games," Watkins said of his time there.

"Non-league helped me to develop a lot. There were older players, perhaps not as fit or as quick as me but able to use ways to stop me with the odd niggle here and there.

"Or they'd just foul me if I went past them.

"It was completely different to reserve-team football.

"I was always a skinny kid and I wanted to be more powerful and be holding my own, so I started to invest in myself then. Going to the gym.

"I've always been a lucky person. I've thought 'Why me?' - but I think I've worked hard and overcome any obstacles.

His rise has been swift since. Watkins impressed at Exeter, where he was named EFL Young Player of the Year for 2016, and then at Brentford, where he would outscore Bamford in the Championship last season as the Bees missed out in the playoffs to Fulham.

Watkins joined Villa last summer and has now made his first England squad, timing it just right to make a late run for the Euros squad this summer. He is still looking for more.