England host Belgium at Wembley Stadium in an international friendly as part of their UEFA Euro 2024 preparations.
This match marks the final chance for players to stake their claim for a spot in England and Belgium’s respective squads for UEFA Euro 2024.
Team News
Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker have both withdrawn from the England squad due to injury, with the pair also having been substituted during the defeat to Brazil.
Sam Johnstone (elbow) has also left the squad and is undergoing assessment at his club, Crystal Palace.
Manager, Gareth Southgate has consequently called James Trafford and Rico Lewis up from the Under-21s squad for this match.
Harry Kane didn’t play any part in the loss against Brazil due to an ankle injury, but has since been withdrawn as a precaution and sent back to Bayern Munich for treatment.
Belgium could welcome Romelu Lukaku (hip) back into contention, after he sat out their goalless draw against Republic of Ireland.
When is Kick-Off?
England host Belgium at Wembley Stadium, London, on Tuesday 26 March at 7:45pm GMT, live on Channel 4 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- England are unbeaten in 16 of 17 previous international friendlies against Belgium (W14, D2, L1).
- Belgium are winless in six previous friendly visits to England (D1, L5).
- England have kept clean sheets in two of their last four home friendlies against Belgium.
- Defeat would see England suffer consecutive losses at Wembley for the first time since defeats against Chile and Germany in November 2013.
- Belgium are unbeaten in their last 12 matches in all competitions (W8, D4).
Prediction
Although the clinical edge of Kane was a pretty big loss for their defeat to Brazil, England simply lacked the sharp creativity and end product amidst their dominance on the ball so more composure will be needed which Ivan Toney will certainly bring up front.
Belgium meanwhile are unbeaten in their last 12 matches but their friendly record away to England is poor which will be a slight mental niggle, especially after their goalless draw at Ireland where they just lacked much quality against a resilient home team.
Both teams therefore need to step it up a gear in their end product but with their injury issues mounting, England can’t afford to go gung-ho and risk losing key players for the Euros so a draw might be a fair outcome.
Prediction: England 1-1 Belgium
Result: England 2-2 Belgium
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