France announced their 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia on Wednesday night.The tournament is just 25 days away and the majority of the 32 nations have been revealing their squads this week.England manager Gareth Southgate revealed who would be on the plane to Russia on Wednesday.Jack Wilshere, Joe Hart and Adam Lallana were the surprise omissions while the uncapped duo of Nick Pope and Trent Alexander-Arnold were awarded spots.“He [Alexander-Arnold] is the next best English full-back in the league,” Southgate explained. “His performances have been excellent.“He’s shown, in games of real pressure, the personality and the ability to cope with that."France manager Didier Deschamps was also forced to explain his 23-man squad to reporters.

Lacazette and Martial out

There was always going to be some big-name omissions in the French squad.

Dimitri Payet was ruled out with an injury sustained in Wednesday's Europa League final - but Anthony Martial and Alexandre Lacazette are both fully fit.

Martial has been linked with a move away from Man United after falling out of favour with Jose Mourinho in the wake of Alexis Sanchez's January arrival from Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Lacazette has been slow to settle at Arsenal following last summer's record breaking move from Lyon.

Both players are on Deschamps standby list along with Wissam Ben Yedder, Kingsley Coman, Benoît Costil, Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Adrien Rabiot, Mamadou Sakho, Moussa Sissoko and Kurt Zouma.

Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Nabil Fekir and Ousmane Dembele were the forwards to make the cut.

Deschamps explains decision

The 49-year-old coach was quizzed on his decision to leave out Martial and Lacazette, after they had previously combined for both goals in a 2-2 draw with Germany in November.

Jeremy Smith, from French Football Weekly, was at the press conference on Wednesday evening and translated Deschamps' answer to English.

Was Deschamps right to leave Martial and Lacazette behind? Let us know your opinion by leaving a comment below.