Pickford has demonstrated consistent performance for Everton and England, as shown in his Premier League numbers.

During the previous two league campaigns, Pickford recorded 23 clean sheets, ranking second only to Arsenal's David Raya with 32.

Across 89 caps for England, he has allowed 59 goals, kept 44 clean sheets, and made only two errors resulting in goals per Opta data.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson believes Pickford's work has not received enough recognition.

He told BBC Sport: "I believe he has not received enough credit for his work with Everton and England given the statistics, matches played, and clean sheets achieved.

"He ranks second to David Raya over the last two seasons in clean sheets despite playing for contrasting sides.

"For England, his experience and deep tournament runs stand out. I often mention competitive caps, yet he possesses numerous tournament appearances, which hold great value."

Pickford has served as England's primary goalkeeper in tournaments since the 2018 World Cup, where the team fell to Croatia in the semi-finals in Moscow.

Any potential rivals have been overcome, leading Robinson to state: "I consider him the automatic selection. No alternatives exist.

"As a country, we enter another major event with a goalkeeper boasting extensive caps, while backups have minimal experience.

"Before this tournament, I reviewed the figures, and the five other goalkeepers considered with Jordan Pickford had only 11 competitive matches combined."

When Thomas Tuchel took over as England manager, some thought he might doubt Pickford, but like Sir Gareth Southgate before him, he remains the clear first choice.

Pickford began the World Cup with some uncertainty, at fault for a near-post goal by DR Congo against England in Atlanta, though captain Harry Kane's late double secured advancement.

Yet in the intense atmosphere of the Azteca, Pickford delivered his best performance for England, producing two excellent first-half stops from Mexico's Raul Jimenez and showing strong command in the box during a chaotic second half.

"It represented a courageous showing in goal," Robinson noted. "I appreciated his actions in that second half and those two saves kept England competitive. They might have been eliminated by half-time without his intervention."

Pickford earned broad acclaim for taking charge of his penalty area, regularly coming for crosses and corners as England, reduced to 10 men after Jarell Quansah's early second-half dismissal, faced heavy pressure.

"He decided that he was going to stand up. He came for crosses, made decisions to go for balls, making life easier for his defenders because of how good he was.

"The easiest thing as a goalkeeper is to stay on your line because you don't get criticised. If you stay on your line you can't make a mistake, but he showed maturity and bravery.

"He showed the way his game has developed by coming off his line, making those decisions, making big bold calls. That's where you see how much he has evolved.

"Jordan took it upon himself, punched the ball, caught the ball, made life easier for his defenders.

"He doesn't mind what players are in front of him. It doesn't faze him. He's played with a different back four for most games, with the full-backs alternating and a change in central defence.

"The players know him and trust him. I think there is a good relationship there."

And Pickford's Mexico masterclass can bolster England's confidence as they try to overcome the dangerous Norwegians and master striker Erling Haaland, who demonstrated their threat by beating Brazil 2-0 in the last 16.

"I think Jordan Pickford's confidence will be at an all-time high and the team's will be as well after their win against Mexico," added Robinson.

"I questioned them on air when Thomas Tuchel went to a back five after 71 minutes. I was thinking I wasn't sure they would hang on, and that would have been a stick he would have been beaten with.

"It did go right and Jordan Pickford was a big part of it going right."