British media published an image of a notepad held by Southgate's assistant Steve Holland, with a formation that showed Marcus Rashford in attack, in place of Sterling.
Asked if the players knew the line-up for the Group G fixture against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday, the Liverpool full back said they were still fighting for places.
"We haven’t been directly told who’s starting and who’s not, so all positions are up for grabs," he told a news conference.
"Until the manager names the team it doesn’t matter what’s come out or leaked because the lads don’t pay any notice to things like that.
"Until it comes out of the manager's mouth...they are the only words that really matter to us at this moment in time. Until he names the team everyone is still fighting for their positions," he added.
The image of the note also featured Ruben Loftus-Cheek in place of Dele Alli in midfield. Alli missed training on Thursday due to a thigh injury.
The Football Association has declined to comment on the relevance of the note and Southgate has been keen to keep knowledge of his line-ups within the camp before games.
(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Ed Osmond)
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