England welcome Switzerland to Wembley Stadium in an international friendly as both teams begin preparations for 2022 FIFA World Cup.
With both teams safely qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, this match will provide England manager – Gareth Southgate and Switzerland boss, Murat Yakin with understanding of where their teams stand heading into a packed year of competitive international matches.
Team News
Bukayo Saka is ruled out for England after testing positive for Coronavirus and will also miss Tuesday’s friendly fixture against Ivory Coast.
Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell and Kyle Walker-Peters meanwhile will all be looking for their first senior caps, with the latter pair only called up as replacements.
Fraser Forster meanwhile will look for his first start since 2016, having been called up as a replacement after Sam Johnstone dropped out due to illness, with Johnstone having originally replaced Aaron Ramsdale who is absent with a muscle injury.
Switzerland will be without first-choice goalkeeper, Yann Sommer after he tested positive for Coronavirus, which has forced him to withdraw from the squad.
Philipp Kohn is also absent with an unspecified injury, meaning that David von Ballmoos could be in line for his first senior cap, despite twice previously being called up but he is yet to play a single minute for Switzerland’s senior team.
Stat Attack
- England are unbeaten in 12 of 14 previous international friendly fixtures against Switzerland (W10, D2, L2).
- Switzerland have failed to win any of six previous away friendlies against England (D1, L5).
- England have kept clean sheets in their last four meetings against Switzerland excluding penalty shootouts (W3, D1).
- Only one of England’s five goals in three friendly fixtures at home this decade have been scored by a defender – Conor Coady in a 3-0 win against Wales in October 2020.
- Switzerland have scored first in three of their last four friendlies – with exception of a comeback 2-1 win against USA in May 2021.
Prediction
Having comfortably thrashed San Marino in their last outing without much resistance, England now face a tougher test of their quality especially with the potential introduction of Guehi, Mitchell and Walker-Peters into the starting line-up for the first time.
Switzerland meanwhile were one of the big surprises of last summer’s Euros so shouldn’t have anything to fear against England, especially given how strong their defensive record has been since losing to Spain in the Euros’ Quarter-Finals with just two goals conceded in their last seven matches.
I am therefore anticipating a closely fought cagey battle because England will certainly pose a superior attacking edge, yet Switzerland are a defensively stubborn team and unbeaten in their last 10 matches in all competitions so this won’t be an easy clash for either team.
On that note, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a score draw here.
Prediction: England 1-1 Switzerland
Result: England 2-1 Switzerland
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