Lexi Potter gets first England call-up as Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly dropped for Greece play-off

Chelsea beat Arsenal 1-0 in the WSL on Sunday with Lexi Potter in midfield. On Tuesday the 20-year-old received her first England call-up: Sarina Wiegman has named her in a 23-player squad for the World Cup qualifying play-off against Greece.

Potter has started three of Chelsea’s first four league games alongside Keira Walsh and impressed in the win over Arsenal. Her call-up comes as Wiegman leaves out Ella Toone of Manchester United and Arsenal’s Chloe Kelly. “The main reason is the levels weren’t quite what I expected from them on the pitch,” Wiegman told the Guardian. The BBC describes Toone’s start to the season as uneven; the Guardian presents both omissions as a football decision.

Club form drives the squad list

The rest of the squad moves too.

• Also left out: Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea), Lotte Wubben-Moy and Taylor Hinds (Arsenal).
• Back in the group: captain Leah Williamson, recovered from the injury that kept her out of the June fixtures.
• New faces: 18-year-old midfielder Erica Meg Parkinson (North Carolina Courage), Freya Godfrey (London City Lionesses) and defender Grace Fisk (Liverpool).

Greece first, Brazil later

The play-off runs over two legs: away in Heraklion, Crete, at the Pankritio Stadium on Friday 9 October, then at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Tuesday 13 October. If England go through, they would meet Slovakia or Ukraine in the second round in November and December, with a place at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil at stake.

“We have great respect for Greece, but our expectations of ourselves are clear. We are here to win these two games, deliver strong performances, and move one step closer to securing our place at the World Cup,” Wiegman told the Guardian. “We are looking forward to travelling to Crete and playing Greece for the first time ever,” she added on Sky Sports.