JORDAN PICKFORD is in the frame to be one of England's first five penalty takers if tomorrow's Euro 2020 last-16 game with Germany goes to a shoot-out.

If tomorrow's game is settled on penalties, it will be the first shoot-out between the sides since Gareth Southgate's miss saw England crash out of Euro 96 in the semi-finals.

That spot-kick defeat followed similar heartbreak at the hands of the Germans in the last four of Italia 90, but since Southgate took charge of the England team, their fortunes from the penalty spot have changed.

Southgate's England sidce have been involved in two shoot-outs - against Colombia at the last World Cup and Switzerland in the Nations League - and have won both.

Pickford was one of the first five penalty takers against the Swiss two years ago, and the Wearsider has been practising penalties regularly througfhout Southgate's reign along with his team-mates.

Southgate and his backroom staff keep a record of all of their players' performances from the penalty spot, and Pickford's success ratio is understood to be one of the highest in the entire squad.

As a result, the goalkeeper is being seriously considered for a prominent place in the shoot-out line-up should tomorrow's game go all the way to penalties.

Kalvin Phillips was asked about Pickford's penalty-taking prowess at his press conference yesterday, and backed the idea of the former Sunderland academy product stepping up.

Phillips said: "He’s a very clean striker of the ball. It makes it a lot easier when you have a keeper who could probably score a free-kick as well as a penalty."