Joe Hart and Jack Wilshire to miss Nigeria friendly as Southgate drops them from World Cup squad

GOALKEEPER Joe Hart and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere will not be facing Nigeria when the Super Eagles face England at Wembley on June 2 because they have been left out of manager Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad.

As part of the preparations of both teams for this summer's World Cup, Nigeria and England will face each other at Wembley before heading to Russia. Their friendly is seen as a clash between two teams that know each other well as players on both sides feature a lot in the English Premier league.

Among the Nigerian players who ply their trade in England include Alex Iwobi, Victor Moses, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi, while the likes of Mikel Obi, Odion Ighalo and Ahmed Musa have all once played in the Premiership. All of them have been included in Nigeria's 30-man provisional squad but this morning, when Mr Southgate released his 23-man squad, Hart and Wilshire were missing.

Hart, 31, who has won 75 caps, has had a poor season, conceding 39 goals in 19 Premier League games for West Ham, where he is playing on loan from Manchester City. Arsenal's 26-year-old playmaker Wilshere, who plays alongside Iwobi for the Gunners, has had an injury-plagued career but still managed 38 appearances this season.

Of late, Hart has been England's first-choice goalkeeper for the last three major tournaments, manning goal at Euro 2012, the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016. He also kept goal in most of the World Cup qualifiers but of late his form has dipped and he has only played in one of the past five games under Southgate.

Everton's Jordan Pickford is likely to be England's number one this summer, with Stoke City's Jack Butland also a contender. Wilshere has 34 England caps with two goals but his last appearance for his country was the Euro 2016 1-2 loss to Iceland in the second round.

England have been drawn in Group G alongside Belgium, Panama and Tunisia and start their World Cup campaign on 18 June against the Carthage Eagles. Nigeria on the other hand have been drawn in Group D alongside Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.