Carlo Ancelotti insists he has not pondered removing Jordan Pickford from his starting line-up

Carlo Ancelotti insists he has not considered removing Jordan Pickford from the starting line-up after a week in the spotlight.

The England international has been under scrutiny following his challenge that led to Virgil van Dijk being seriously injured, with the incident coming on the back of a difficult week with the national team and questions about his form.

But Ancelotti has watched Pickford in training and has no doubts that he is in the right frame of mind to face Southampton on Sunday, as the league leaders aim to continue their outstanding start to the campaign.

Ancelotti, who expects to have James Rodriguez fit after he trained on Friday having recovered from a bruised foot, said: ‘I saw him in training this week — he was focused, he put in a good performance in training, he was concentrated so this is what I want to see from a player. 

‘If he has a problem, I want him to come to me to talk but he didn’t so I think he is absolutely OK.’

On Pickford’s form, he added: ‘Sometimes he did well, sometimes he could do better. That’s it. He could do better I think with the disallowed goal, but he did really well two or three times in that game by making fantastic saves against Alexander-Arnold in the first half and Joel Matip in the second half.

‘I think when we manage a performance, I’m used to looking at the right things, not only the wrong. I’m used to being quite cold, and try to see what he did good and what he did wrong.’