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Townsend Focused On Club, Not Country
Written by Newcastle Utd
Andros Townsend's recent form has led to calls for him to be named in England's Euro 2016 squad, but the winger is just concentrating on helping Newcastle stay up
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Amid mounting calls for his inclusion in England's Euro 2016 squad, Andros Townsend has insisted that his sole focus is on keeping Newcastle United in the Barclays Premier League.
January signing Townsend has been a key figure in the Magpies' recent revival, creating several goals as well as scoring four times - including the stunning free kick which gave Rafa Benitez's side all three points against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
It capped another excellent display from the 24-year-old, who has netted three times in ten appearances for his country, and talk of a return to the international fold has intensified over the last few days.
Roy Hodgson is a fan of the former Tottenham man and invited him to a get-together at St. George's Park in February, although the winger had just recovered from a hamstring injury when the Three Lions squad was named for friendly matches against Germany and the Netherlands last month.
He was asked by nufcTV at the weekend if he had allowed himself to think about another England call-up on the back of his sparkling performances for United but said: "Not at all.
"You can see how much we have to focus on Newcastle at the minute so no, I'm not letting my mind think about England.
"The manager (Hodgson) knows my game inside out and he knows what I can do; if he feels that I can offer something, if he wants a player like myself in the squad, he'll pick me like he's shown before.
"But no, I'm not thinking about it. My main focus is helping Newcastle stay in the Premier League.
"If anything happens on the back of that, then great - if not, then I'll go away and prepare for next season."
Which league that will be in remains to be seen, but United's top-flight survival hopes were given a massive boost following their weekend win.
Alan Pardew's Palace proved to be stubborn opponents but Townsend's intervention proved decisive, alongside Karl Darlow's penalty save from Yohan Cabaye.
"It's probably the most important club goal of my career, to be honest," he said.
"They were difficult to break down. I couldn't see, in the first half, where the goal was going to come from.
"It's definitely a massive, massive three points and a well-deserved three points.
"It was a massive relief when the final whistle went at the end because we had our backs against the wall in the last 20-25 minutes.
"I was beating myself up at half time; I missed a few chances and was a bit wasteful when coming inside so I knew I had to give something to the fans and give something to players to make up for the first half and I was delighted with the free kick that went in."
He revealed: "In the first half of the season when I wasn't playing much (for Tottenham) I was staying out for two or three hours with one of the other players, just taking free kicks - left foot, right foot, every angle.
"So all that hard work at the start of the season has paid off. It's a massive three points and hopefully we can go to Aston Villa, put a similar performance in and get another three points.
"We're not going to go to Villa and have an easy game. They've got nothing to play for now and you've seen in years gone by teams, when they're relegated, they relax and play football and end up getting results against teams they wouldn't normally.
"So we know it'll be a difficult game. We'll have another tough week's training and I'm sure we'll be fully prepared for Aston Villa and hopefully go there and get another three points."
You can watch the full nufcTV interview with Andros Townsend here