England welcome Andorra to Wembley Stadium, as Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions look to extend their lead in UEFA Group I of 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying.
Victory would see England stay top of Group I and potentially maintain a five-point lead over Poland and Hungary at minimum, unless both teams fail to beat San Marino and Albania respectively.
Team News
Patrick Bamford could make his first senior start for England as Gareth Southgate ponders rotating his squad, for this clash ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Poland.
Other changes could see Nick Pope, Tyrone Mings and Jude Bellingham handed starts, having been left on the bench in Thursday’s win in Hungary as unused substitutes.
Jadon Sancho will also be pushing for a start after he wasn’t named on the team sheet in Budapest, due to a knock suffered in training.
Andorra will be without Marc Pujol and Jordi Alaez through suspension.
Stat Attack
- England are unbeaten in four previous meetings against Andorra in all competitions (W4), including two qualifiers for 2010 FIFA World Cup.
- Andorra are winless in two previous trips to England (L2) without scoring, during which they conceded 11 goals across both matches.
- England are yet to concede and have scored 16 goals against Andorra in all competitions.
- Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions haven’t conceded in three straight matches held on home soil at Wembley Stadium across all competitions since between November 2010 – June 2011.
- Andorra are winless in their last 15 away matches in all competitions (D5, L10).
Prediction
Having been frustrated by a defensive Hungary in the first-half on Thursday evening, England delivered a ruthless yet disciplined second-half display with cranked up pressing and energy to their attacks, which ultimately paid dividends with a solid victory.
Andorra meanwhile simply delivered a routine home win over San Marino with two clinical goals, although they now face a tricky task given their awful record against England where defending will be key to preventing a massive thrashing.
Saying that, I do expect Southgate to ring the changes here but I just don’t see Andorra springing any shocks, especially in front of what should be a lively home crowd because a much-changed team should still be capable of getting a strong job done here.
Prediction: England 3-0 Andorra
Result: England 4-0 Andorra