England team news vs Albania and predicted lineup
England get their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign underway on Friday as they host Albania at Wembley at 7:45pm.
England predicted lineup vs Albania
England (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Walker, Guehi, Colwill, Burn; Rice, Bellingham; Bowen, Foden, Gordon; Kane
The Three Lions made it to the quarter-finals in Qatar before losing to France, and they’ll be hoping to go further next year. Of course, that was under Gareth Southgate. Thomas Tuchel is now at the helm.
The German is taking charge of England for the first time in this international break, with Albania his first opponents. England then face Latvia at Wembley a few days later, given Tuchel a good opportunity to see a lot of his players.
England team news vs Albania
There were a few surprise names in Tuchel’s first England squad. Dan Burn got his first call up, as did Myles Lewis-Skelly. There was also a return to the squad for Jordan Henderson, which brought a lot of conversation.
Cole Palmer had to pull out of the squad due to injury, with Morgan Gibbs-White replacing him.
As a club manager, Tuchel’s favourite formations were a 3-4-2-1 or a 4-2-3-1. So he could go either way in his first England lineup. To start off with, a 4-2-3-1 may be likely, given the opposition and players in the squad.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold out injured, Kyle Walker, Reece James and Tino Livramento will fight out for the right-back spot. While James did work under Tuchel at Chelsea, Walker might get the nod — with James still needing his minutes managed due to injury, and to give Tuchel a chance to look at others.
Burn may get his chance to start at left-back, though he has been playing centre-back for Newcastle United this season. Lewis-Skelly is the other left-back option for England, but Livramento can also play on the left as he has been for Newcastle recently.
There shouldn’t be too many surprises in the attacking lineup, with Harry Kane spearheading the attack. Jarrod Bowen, Anthony Gordon and Phil Foden could be the ones to play behind him. But there will be a lot of rotation.
England’s unstoppable qualifying record
England rarely struggle to qualify for major tournaments. They haven’t missed a World Cup since 1994, when they finished third in their qualifying group.
Since then, the Three Lions have lost just four of their 66 World Cup qualifying matches. The most recent defeat came in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a 1-0 away loss to Ukraine. But, England had won their first eight games and qualified for the World Cup, so it didn’t really do any damage.
England won their final qualifying game 3-0 against Belarus and have been unbeaten since. The Three Lions have won 23 of their past 31 World Cup qualifying games, drawing the other eight. In each of the past two World Cup qualifying campaigns, England boasted a record of eight wins and two draws. They’ve only conceded six goals across their past 20 World Cup qualifying games, scoring 57.
