England continue their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup when they host Latvia at Wembley Stadium on Monday 24th March at 7:45pm (UK time). This is the Three Lions’ second game under Thomas Tuchel and their first-ever meeting with Latvia. This game will be broadcast live in the United Kingdom on ITV1.
The Three Lions beat Albania 2-0 on Friday in Tuchel’s first game in charge, while Latvia managed a narrow 1-0 win over Andorra to sit joint-top of the group after one match.
England to win to nil (3/10 with Midnite)
Latvia failed to score in six of their nine away games across qualifying for the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. What’s more, England have now won their last three games without conceding a goal, including 2-0 against Albania on Friday evening.
Half-time/full-time: Draw/England (9/2 with AK Bets)
11 of the past 12 goals scored in England games at Wembley have come in the second halves of their matches — with England scoring nine and conceding two. The latest was Harry Kane’s impressive strike as they beat Albania 2-0 to open their World Cup Qualifying campaign.
England vs Latvia odds
It’ll come as no surprise to find England strong favourites for this match, with punters able to back an unlikely Latvia win at odds as long as 50/1.
How both teams go into England vs Latvia
The Thomas Tuchel era at Wembley is underway following a comfortable 2-0 win over Albania in their first World Cup Qualifier. England are the top seed of their group, placed alongside Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra, and they haven’t lost a game in World Cup qualifying since October 2009, a 1-0 defeat to Ukraine. The Three Lions are unbeaten in 32 games since, winning 24. They didn’t have everything their own way at Wembley on Friday and the second-half introduction of Armando Broja for Albania provided some food for thought for Tuchel. However, there were some major positives, not least quality goals from Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly and record scorer Harry Kane.
Latvia are yet to qualify for the World Cup, so they’ll be hoping they can change that this time around. But, despite the expanded tournament, each Uefa qualifying group still only has one automatic spot and a second for the play-offs. And Latvia aren’t in good form. They head into World Cup qualifying off the back of a poor Uefa Nations League campaign, which saw them finish bottom of their League C group — they’ll face a relegation play-off next year. They did make a winning start, but that was only 1-0 away to an Andorra side that have won just four of 62 all-time World Cup Qualifiers, scoring only 22 goals and conceding 186 during that time.
England team news
The likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Lewis Hall, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke are all injured for England, but in their absence, some players stepped up with strong performances. The likes of Lewis-Skelly, Dan Burn and Curtis Jones will be disappointed should they drop out of the starting XI here, although others will be itching for an opportunity.
Latvia team news
The vast majority of Latvia’s squad play in their home country, although there is a fairly familiar face in St. Johnstone defender Daniels Balodis. The top scorers in this group are Janis Ikaunieks of Lativan side RFS and Vladislavs Gutkovskis of South Korean outfit Daejeon Hana Citizen. The pair have 12 goals in 64 caps and 11 goals in 51 caps, respectively.
England vs Latvia head-to-head
This will be the first-ever meeting between England and Latvia. 11 Wolves have a poor record against Europe’s major nations, never beating the likes of Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium or Portugal previously.