Olivier Giroud, Kurt Zouma earn France call-up; Kanté rested

Although France won the World Cup last summer, it’s been almost 20 years since their last European Championship title. And after finishing as runners-up to Portugal at Euro 2016, their determination and desire to get back at the top of Europe surely has only grown.

Thus far, they have done a good job in the qualifiers, scoring four goals in the three wins, though they did surprisingly lose to Turkey, 2-0. They should on course to qualify with ease.

Unlike back in June, this time around Didier Deschamps did not request midfielder N’Golo Kanté’s services due to his continuing injury concerns (this time it’s an ankle), just as Lampard and Chelsea have been hoping. Last time, the French boss called up Kanté, but then had to send him back to Chelsea as the knee injury he had picked up prior to the Europa League final worsened.

The full squad for France’s rather easy qualifiers against Albania and Andorra, is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Mike Maignan (Lille)

DEFENDERS: Lucas Digne (Everton), Leo Dubois (Lyon), Clement Lenglet (Barcelona), Lucas Hernandez (Bayern Munich), Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City), Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)

MIDFIELDERS: Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven Nzonzi (Galatasaray), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)

FORWARDS: Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Nabil Fekir (Real Betis), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Jonathan Ikone (Lille), Thomas Lemar (Atletico Madrid).