Jordan Pickford remains England's first-choice goalkeeper despite James Trafford's increased involvement in recent months, insists Thomas Tuchel.

Both Pickford and Tuchel have been included in Tuchel's squad for the Three Lions' upcoming Nations League fixtures against Croatia and Spain, with just one point needed to secure a quarter-final place.

The two shot-stoppers made two starts each in the previous international break, with Trafford playing in a 3-2 defeat to Spain and a 2-0 win in Czechia, while Pickford was between the sticks for a 7-0 rout of Croatia and another 3-0 victory over Czechia.

Both players have impressed in the Premier League this season, with Trafford earning regular gametime with Leeds United following his decision to leave Manchester City.

David Raya (five) and Bart Verbruggen (seven) are the only ever-present goalkeepers to concede fewer goals than Trafford's eight, though Pickford is joint-fourth alongside Liverpool's Alisson (10 each).

Only Hull City's Konstantinos Tzolakis (41) has made more saves than Trafford's 37, and the Leeds goalkeeper also has the best save percentage in the division at 82.2%. No other goalkeeper has a figure above 80%, with Pickford ranking sixth at 73.7% (28 saves).

Trafford also leads the way when it comes to Opta's expected goals on target model, conceding 4.4 goals fewer than his underlying data suggests he should have (eight goals against, 12.4 xGoT faced). By the same metric, Pickford has prevented 1.1 goals (10 goals against, 11.1 xGoT faced). 

Pickford is yet to commit an error leading to a goal in the Premier League this term, though, and has only made one error leading to a shot. Trafford has committed one error leading to a goal and two leading to shots – only Alisson (three) has fared worse by the latter metric.

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And Tuchel is keeping faith with Pickford, whose 93 senior caps are the second most by any England goalkeeper, behind Peter Shilton.

Yet the Three Lions boss also knows the importance of giving Trafford opportunities in competitive fixtures, with the goalkeepers likely to share gametime again this month.

Tuchel said: "It's slightly different [to outfielders], but when do I have a chance to see another goalkeeper, if not in the Nations League? If not in high-pressure matches?" 

"So, we had James against Spain, and we asked ourselves, 'Is this fair for James Trafford to straightaway go up against Spain?'

"But I think that's exactly what we need, because what happens if Jordan Pickford is injured? What happens if he's not available? It's better to test it. 

"Jordan knows about this. That we want to use Nations League for exactly that.

"But at the moment, nothing has changed. At the moment, he's the number one and he just feels a bit of competition, which is good for him."

Asked about Trafford's progress this season, Tuchel added: "He gets regular starts now, and that's what we wanted. He did well when they shared the matches last time.

"I'm not sure what we will do. There's an opportunity that we maybe do this [rotate goalkeepers] again."