Marcus Rashford to be named in Gareth Southgate's England squad for Germany and Lithuania

Southgate will name his squad at a press conference at St George's Park on Thursday

Marcus Rashford is not a regular starter for Manchester United but has contributed this season (Getty)

Marcus Rashford will be named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for next week’s games against Germany and Lithuania.

With Harry Kane expected to be out for the next six weeks with an ankle ligament injury sustained last Sunday against Millwall, and England’s other strikers struggling for form and fitness, there is a vacancy to be Southgate’s leading man for the next two games.

Southgate will name his squad at a press conference at St George’s Park on Thursday afternoon.

​Rashford is not a regular starter for Manchester United but he has still scored seven goals this season and he led the line impressively in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s absence at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup quarter-final on Monday night.

He is set to continue as United’s centre-forward at Middlesbrough on Sunday and then against West Bromwich Albion after the international break, on 1 April.

Rashford has played in three of Southgate's games in charge of England already (Getty)

Between those two games England travel to Dortmund to play Germany in a friendly at the Westfalenstadion, before hosting Lithuania in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.

Rashford has played three times for Southgate’s England team already, coming on as a second half substitute in World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia, and in the friendly that England drew with Spain last November.

It has been a fast start for Rashford’s international career, having scored on his England debut under Roy Hodgson last May. Rashford was then named in the squad that performed so disappointingly at Euro 2016. Next week, he will get his next chance to impress.