Neville praise for Nobbs as she is recalled to England squad

Phil Neville praised Jordan Nobbs for getting back to her best after injury robbed her of the chance of playing at the World Cup – but there is no place for veteran midfielder Fara Williams in his latest squad.

Arsenal midfielder Nobbs ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament against Everton in November and missed the tournament in France.

But Neville has recalled the 26-year-old after watching her play for the Gunners against West Ham and Fiorentina this season.

Nobbs came through 90 minutes unscathed in Arsenal’s 5-0 win over the London City Lionesses on Sunday and Neville had no hesitation in recalling her for the games with Brazil and Portugal.

Neville said: "I have watched Jordan's performances against West Ham and Fiorentina and the player that we missed at the World Cup has got back up to speed and that is testament to her work and dedication.

"Her mentality has been great and we have kept her involved in everything that we have been doing and her attitude is phenomenal.

"From the moment she was diagnosed her focus has been getting back into that England shirt as quickly as possible.

"We have spoken to Arsenal about taking our time with her, because we want her around for the next 10 years not just the next six months."

While it is good news for Nobbs, it was not the same for 172 cap midfielder Williams who has been axed from the squad.

Williams played in the disappointing 3-3 draw with Belgium in August but has not been picked in the 20-stong squad for the two games next month.

Neville added: "We need the quality of the players we have brought back in order to introduce the things we want to over the next few years.

"We probably missed that at the last camp - a little bit of experience to guide the younger players - and when you look at our stand out players from the World Cup, they were our senior players.

"That shows that experience still has a massive part to play in what we retrying to do with England.

"When you have some kind of success like we did in the summer, the real top players go again - that is what I want to see on this camp, that mentality that they have shown for the last 18 months."

Neville has opted to recall senior members of his squad for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Portugal including Jill Scott, Fran Kirby and Alex Greenwood, all of whom featured for the Lionesses in France.

Nobbs in joined by Arsenal teammates Leah Williamson and Beth Mead but England will be without the injured Georgia Stanway and Toni Duggan, who has struggled for minutes this season, for next month's friendlies.

And the England boss has one eye on the future by inviting PSG's Alana Cook, Everton's Chloe Kelly and Liverpool's Melissa Lawley to train with the squad.