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Dimitri Payet and Mamadou Sakho left out of France squad

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Arsenal breaks past Dimitri Payet of West Ham during the Barclays Premier League
Image: Dimitri Payet enjoyed a fine first competitive game for West Ham against Arsenal

Premier League pair Dimitri Payet and Mamadou Sakho have been left out of a France squad which features a first call-up for Monaco's Anthony Martial.

Martial is the one new face in coach Didier Deschamps' 23-man group for friendlies against Portugal in Lisbon on September 4 and Serbia at Bordeaux's new stadium three days later.

He effectively takes the place of Payet, with Deschamps unimpressed by the former Marseille winger's showings since moving to West Ham this summer.

Mamadou Sakho
Image: Mamadou Sakho is yet to feature for Liverpool this season

"I expect better, I expect more," Deschamps told L'Equipe. "He had a very good first game against Arsenal but the next two were not so good."

But he added: "It's not a punishment, I will continue to follow him as we did in these first three games."

Where Sakho is concerned, the issue is a lack of recent match action after losing his place in the Liverpool defence to Dejan Lovren.

Again, Deschamps stressed his omission is "not a warning", adding: "He is an important player who finds himself in a difficult position.

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"Playing international matches when you have not played for your club for a month is difficult. I hope his situation improves."

Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette is absent after suffering with back problems recently but strike partner Nabil Fekir is included along with Mathieu Valbuena, who returned to Ligue 1 with OL earlier this month.

France squad: Lloris (Tottenham), Mandanda (Marseille), Ruffier (St Etienne); Varane (Real Madrid), Debuchy, Koscielny (both Arsenal), Evra (Juventus), Mangala, Sagna (both Manchester City), Tremoulinas (Sevilla), Zouma (Chelsea); Cabaye (Crystal Palace), Kondogbia (Inter Milan), Matuidi (Paris St Germain), Pogba (Juventus), Schneiderlin (Manchester United), Sissoko (Newcastle), Valbuena (Lyon); Fekir (Lyon), Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Martial (Monaco), Benzema (Real Madrid), Giroud (Arsenal).

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