Marcus Rashford has returned to the England squad for the first time since Euro 2020 but Manchester United team-mates Jadon Sancho and Jesse Lingard have missed out.
Gareth Southgate named a 25-man squad for the final World Cup qualifiers at home to Albania and away to minnows San Marino.
Rashford returned after undergoing shoulder surgery following the Euro 2020 final, but Lingard and Sancho were absent.
Harry Maguire, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Reece James returned from injury for this month’s fixtures, although Kieran Trippier and Fikayo Tomori dropped out.
Jude Bellingham and Kalvin Phillips came into the midfield, while Ollie Watkins was out and Mason Greenwood was again absent.
Southgate said: “It's always difficult (to pick a squad) because we’ve got so much competition for places and we had quite a few players missing last time, which means you bring others in. Then you’ve got more decisions to make.
“Also, some young players who are playing well that haven’t quite made the squad.
“So, we’ve kept a reasonable amount of consistency, really, with the groups that they were with in the summer. They did so well, we’re only five international games on from that.
“But also there are players pushing that group really strongly.”
Southgate said England Under-21 squad members Emile Smith Rowe, Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi were pushing for a place in the senior set-up, but he felt others were a little further ahead right now.
Tino Livramento, Tariq Lamptey and Max Aarons were also praised when the Three Lions boss was talking about the glut of right-back options that saw Alexander-Arnold come in and Trippier omitted.
Confirming your #ThreeLions squad for November! 👊
— England (@England) November 4, 2021
The Manchester United trio of Greenwood, Sancho and Lingard were the most striking omissions from Southgate’s selection.
Southgate said: “I know people say I’m inconsistent, but I don’t think I am. If you’re playing regularly for your club, you’ve got a much better chance of us assessing your level compared to the rest of the group.
“They know that at the moment they’ve got to get playing for their club and playing well and then England is a bonus on the top."
While forthcoming about his selection decisions, Southgate clammed up about contract negotiations with his deal due to expire after Qatar 2022.
“Well, with the greatest respect, what I discuss with the FA about my contract is nobody’s business but me and the FA,” he said.
“So, as I said, the only thing that I will absolutely share is I think we’ve got to nail qualification before we sit down and have those conversations in real depth because I think focus has got to be to get the points we need to qualify, to get the team to the World Cup finals.
“And then there’s plenty of time to talk those things through.”
England squad:
Goalkeepers - Jordan Pickford, Sam Johnstone, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders - Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Chilwell, Conor Coady, Reece James, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kyle Walker
Midfielders - Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, James Ward-Prowse
Forwards - Tammy Abraham, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling.
