Lallana and Oxlade-Chamberlain talk up Luke Shaw

The 18-year-old has been named alongside Ashley Cole and Leighton Baines as manager Roy Hodgson evaluates his  options at left-back ahead of naming his World Cup squad in two months’ time on 13 May. Shaw, who alongside  Lallana, Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert makes up a quartet of Southampton players in Hodgson’s 30-man squad for Wednesday’s meeting with Denmark, has enjoyed an impressive season so far and Lallana admits it came as no surprise to see his club-mate named in the senior set-up.

“I’m not surprised at all,” he said. “He has been outstanding for us all season. He looks like a seasoned pro and it was no surprise to see he was included in the squad.

“There are two outstanding players ahead of him but he will keep his feet on the ground. He knows he is going to learn off them and if he watches them closely in training he knows it is going to do him good.

“It was massive news not just for himself but for his family. I know his family well from being at the club, it was a very proud moment for him.”

Meanwhile, Oxlade-Chamberlain, a product of the Southampton academy himself and another individual who made his England debut at 18, has also hailed Shaw’s impressive form.

“I think he has been absolutely outstanding,” he said. “The maturity he has been playing with and the consistency level has been unbelievable. He shot up and has matured and grown physically, he has taken that into the first team at Southampton and it has been a rapid rise for him, but he has handled it really well.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain travelled with England to Ukraine and Poland for Euro 2012 as a young player and admits the experience will help him in the future.

“Going to the Euros was a massive experience and it almost came as a surprise to see my name selected for that. It gave me the pedestal to push on with my Arsenal and England career,” he added.