England host Malta at Wembley Stadium in their penultimate Group C match in UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifying.
Victory will see England top Qualifying Group C with a game to spare, whilst Malta are destined to finish bottom of the group regardless of their result at Wembley.
Team News
England are set to be without midfielder, Kalvin Phillips after he failed to report for training due to personal circumstances.
Levi Colwill, Jude Bellingham (both shoulder), Lewis Dunk (adductor), James Maddison (ankle) and Callum Wilson (hamstring) are ruled out.
Ezri Konsa, Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer consequently have been handed their maiden senior call-ups and could be in line for their debuts here.
Malta have no fresh injury concerns to report as Jodi Jones and Teddy Teuma return to the squad after the pair missed October’s fixtures due to injury.
When is Kick-Off?
England host Malta at Wembley Stadium in a 7:45pm GMT kick-off on Friday 17 November, live on Channel 4 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- England have won all six previous meetings against Malta in all competitions (W6).
- Malta have lost each of their two previous away matches against England (L2).
- England have kept five clean sheets in their six meetings against Malta, whilst they have scored seven goals at home without conceding.
- Harry Kane has scored five goals in three appearances at home for England in this Qualifying campaign.
- Malta have conceded seven goals in their three away matches in this Qualifying campaign, during which they scored one goal which came in a 2-1 defeat away to North Macedonia.
Prediction
Having shown resilience to come from behind to beat Italy last month amidst wasted chances and wrap up qualification, England now have a chance to experiment a bit with players like Konsa and Palmer as long as they win to boost their hope of a top seeding for the tournament.
Malta meanwhile are guaranteed to finish bottom and with a poor defence in the campaign plus awful record in this fixture, they certainly need to deliver a huge performance if want to stand any chance of springing a shock result.
England though should be too strong even if there is experimentation with the line-up so I am going for an easy home win.
Prediction: England 3-0 Malta
Result: England 2-0 Malta