England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has revealed that his side have been practising penalties on the training ground in preparation for their World Cup campaign.
The Three Lions have famously struggled from the spot at major tournaments down the years, suffering defeat in six of their previous seven shootouts.
That poor run spans over the past three decades, but England are doing a lot of preparation in the weeks leading up to Russia 2018 as they ready themselves for every possible scenario.
Pickford, who is expected to be his nation's first-choice keeper at the finals, says that he is even ready to step up and take a pen of his own if required.
"Behind the scenes we're doing a lot of work to get preparation for how we'd want to go about it," he told reporters. "There are a lot of good penalty takers here and we've been practising the last couple of days... it's been hard to save them.
"It's pot luck sometimes isn't it? It's about how the taker's looking at it, body language, where his shoulders or arms are... and sometimes you've just got to pick a side, wait and attack it.
"If you get there you get there and if you don't, get the next one. If you save a couple you can be a hero but there's no pressure on you. I've saved a few penalties, I'm good at them.
"If I need to step up, I'll take one. I've got no issue with that. Taking the [winning] penalty or saving one, I'll be happy either way. I've never taken one in a shootout but I'm always practising in training."
Jack Butland and Nick Pope are also included in England's 23-man squad for the World Cup, while Tom Heaton is on the standby list.
Daniel Lewis
