England manager

Gareth Southgate has revealed the England team is a "work in progress" as the Three Lions continue to prepare for the upcoming World Cup in Russia this summer.

The former Crystal Palace manager was appointed as the permanent Three Lions boss in 2016 and has been charged with the task of reviving the fortunes of the national team.

And while Southgate has guided England to a respectable second place in their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying group, the team's recent performances have been far from convincing. England were beaten 2-1 by Spain in a friendly in November and were held to a goalless draw by Brazil at Wembley in March.

With the World Cup just around the corner, there are concerns that England are not yet ready to challenge the tournament's favourites, such as Germany, Spain and Brazil.

But Southgate is confident that his team can improve and believes that they can make a positive impact on the World Cup.

"We're still a work in progress," Southgate said. "We've got a lot of young players in the team and they need time to develop and mature. But we're making progress and we're moving in the right direction.

"I believe that we can have a good World Cup," he added. "We've got a talented group of players and we've got a good team spirit. We're going to be competitive and we're going to give it our best shot. But we know that it's going to be a tough tournament and we're not going to be favourites.

England have been drawn in Group G for the World Cup and will face Tunisia, Panama and Belgium in the group stage.

The Three Lions will be looking to reach the latter stages of the tournament, but they will need to improve their form if they are to challenge the best teams in the world.