After comfortably dispatching Bulgaria at Wembley on Saturday, England take on Kosovo at Southampton’s St Marys’ Stadium in a crunch Euro 2020 qualifier.
Both teams come into this match unbeaten with just one point separating them, making this a key match in determining whether England will qualify as group winners whilst Kosovo look to qualify for their first major tournament.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesEngland will be without Jesse Lingard after the midfielder returned to Manchester United at the weekend with an illness.
Tyrone Mings and James Maddison are in line to start and pick up their first caps after not being used against Bulgaria.
Kosovo manager, Bernard Challandes has a full strength squad available for selection.
Stat Attack
- This is England’s first ever meeting with Kosovo in all competitions.
- England are currently unbeaten in their last 44 qualifiers across both Euros and World Cup, dating back to October 2009 since they lost 1-0 in Ukraine during qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
- Kosovo are unbeaten in their last 15 matches across all competitions dating back to November 2017, although they have conceded in all five of their games this calendar year.
Prediction
This is a difficult game to call because England have never met Kosovo before, so nailing their game plan will be key if the Three Lions are to find their way past a a dangerous Kosovo.
I therefore wouldn’t be surprised if England do concede given the variety in Kosovo’s attacking play, although the likes of Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling will ultimately prove too much for Kosovo’s defence to handle.
Prediction: England 2-1 Kosovo
Result: England 5-3 Kosovo