England host Wales in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on Thursday night, as Thomas Tuchel continues to work through his options heading into next summer’s World Cup.
Of course, England haven’t yet qualified for the World Cup, but with three qualification games left in their group, they are in pole position to do so. In terms of personnel, Bukayo Saka and John Stones are back in England reckoning after injuries kept them out of the squad in the previous international window, where England beat Andorra 2-0 at Villa Park, and followed that up with an impressive 5-0 win away in Serbia.
Noni Madueke impressed in those two games, but he is now injured and has missed out on selection for this one. Reece James was originally picked in the squad, but withdrew due to an injury he picked up in Chelsea’s Premier League win against Liverpool on Saturday Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly has been named as James’s replacement in the squad.
For Wales boss Craig Bellamy, the big news is that midfielder Aaron Ramsey’s return to the national team will be delayed after he had to be withdrawn from the squad due to an injury, but their big stars Brennan Johnson, David Brooks and Harry Wilson will have to come to the party, as they hope to come back from Wembley with a positive result, ahead of a massive World Cup qualification clash against Belgium at home on Monday night.
How to watch:
The match will be available on ITV in the U.K., Fox Sports in the United States, Stan Sport in Australia, and SonyLIV in India. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details:
Date: Thursday, October 09, 7:45 p.m. BST (2:45 p.m. ET; 12.15 a.m. IST, Friday and 5:45 a.m. AEST, Friday)
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland)
VAR: Lukas Fähndrich (Switzerland)
Expected Lineups:
England (4-2-3-1)
GK: Jordan Pickford
RB: Djed Spence | CB: John Stones | CB: Marc Guéhi | LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly
CM: Elliot Anderson | CM: Declan Rice
RW: Bukayo Saka | CAM: Morgan Gibbs-White | LW: Marcus Rashford
CF: Jarrod Bowen
Wales (4-3-3)
GK: Adam Davies
RB: Neco Williams | CB: Joe Rodon | CB: Ben Cabango | LB: Ben Davies
CM: Harry Wilson | CM: Ethan Ampadu | CM: Sorba Thomas
RW: David Brooks | CF: Nathan Broadhead | LW: Brennan Johnson
Stats:
- England have won 69 of the 104 previous games they have played against Wales.
- England are ranked fourth in the world in FIFA rankings, a fair way ahead of Wales, who are ranked 30th.
- England captain Harry Kane has had a superb goal-scoring start to his season at Bayern Munich, with 17 goal contributions in nine games for his club this season.
Latest news and analysis:
England, Wales players to wear nameless shirts in friendly
England and Wales players will play the second half of their friendly on Thursday without names on the back of their shirts to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.
Why has Bellingham, officially England’s best player, been dropped?
Last Wednesday, Jude Bellingham was named England’s men’s Player of the Year for 2024-25. Less than 48 hours later, he was dropped.
Man City’s John Stones mulled ‘retiring’ last season amid injuries
Stones, 31, suffered repeated issues with his hamstring and foot last term that caused him to miss more than 30 games across all competitions.
Gordon: Playing with paranoia to get in England’s World Cup squad
Gordon has been a regular under Tuchel and impressed during last month’s 5-0 win over Serbia, but the Newcastle man is not allowing himself to get carried away.
Gerrard: England’s Golden Generation were ‘egotistical losers’
Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has said his generation of England players failed to work well together because they were “egotistical losers,” and despite their footballing IQ, ego and rivalries were a big problem in the England camp.
