Gareth Southgate dropped a heavy hint that Jordan Pickford will be England's World Cup No.1 by selecting him for the victory over Nigeria, but declined to publicly settle the issue with one more friendly to go.

Southgate has yet to reveal whether Pickford or Jack Butland will be his first-choice goalkeeper in Russia but the scales tipped heavily in the Everton man's favour as he was given 90 minutes in the 2-1 win at Wembley.

That was only Pickford's third senior cap, meaning another outing would surely be beneficial if he is to don the gloves against Tunisia on June 18.

But when invited to put the issue to bed Southgate demurred, opening a slim chance for Butland to play the final warm-up fixture at Elland Road on Thursday.

"We'll give consideration to who plays in goal against Costa Rica over the next 24 or 36 hours," he said.

"But I was really pleased with what Jordan did. Normally, when you play for England, there's not an awful lot of opportunity to produce a lot of saves. But his decision making on crosses, the punch he made, his distribution and calmness to slide passes into midfield . . . that was really important to the way we want to play. He can be very pleased with his performance."

Barring a late change of heart, that endorsement should see the 24-year-old start his first competitive England match in the Group G opener in Volgograd.

Another player who did his chances no harm at all was Tottenham's Kieran Trippier.

He only emerged as a starter at right wing-back when Southgate decided to utilise first-choice Kyle Walker as part of a central three in March.

The selection of the uncapped but precocious Trent Alexander-Arnold means he has fresh competition too, but his corner provided the opening goal for Gary Cahill on Saturday, moments after testing the keeper with a sharp free-kick.

Those at Spurs have long been aware of Trippier's crossing skills and corner-taking prowess and they could yet be important in the Three Lions' World Cup bid.

Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel, meanwhile, saw enough from England on Saturday to feel he can back Southgate's team as potential World Cup winners.

Former Chelsea midfielder Mikel, who played the whole 90 minutes said: "I think the pace in the team, you can feel it, and that is why we had some problems in the first half.

"In the second half we corrected some mistakes and played a lot better. I think the England team have a good chance."

Nigeria were completely outplayed by England in the first half but reacted after the interval as they aim to go further than the round of 16 that they reached in Brazil four years ago.

Gernot Rohr's side are in Group D alongside Argentina – who they beat 4-2 in November – Iceland and Croatia.