Gareth Southgate keeps faith with Joe Hart for England's clash in Malta

Gareth Southgate says Joe Hart will start for England in their World Cup Qualifier against Malta and insists he is England's "best goalkeeper at the moment".

Hart has had an uneasy start to his season-long loan at West Ham, conceding 10 goals in his first three matches but Southgate is keeping faith with him.

"Joe will start for us," the England boss said. "I think he's our best goalkeeper at the moment.

"I wanted to see how he would respond because he has had a difficult start to the season with his club but I'm pleased he's in a good frame of mind. Joe has trained really well.

"His performances since I've been manager have been very, very good, he's only conceded two goals in Scotland in this qualifying campaign."

The 30-year-old long-serving goalkeeper is facing increasingly strong competition from Jack Butland, Tom Heaton and Jordan Pickford, and Southgate gave encouragement to all of them ahead of next year's World Cup.

"We're only three matches into the start of the season, so I don't feel as though the others have had time to stake a claim to push Joe out of that position," he said.

"But we've got three excellent goalkeepers here, there's Jordan who was with us (before withdrawing through injury), and Fraser Forster, who is very unfortunate not to be in the squad."

Highlights from Malta v England at Ta'Qali National Stadium in Group F qualifying will be shown on Sky Sports Football at 10pm on Friday.