England v Wales Men’s Friendly Preview

England host Wales in an Men’s international friendly at Wembley Stadium, London.

With important qualifiers against Latvia and Belgium to come for England and Wales respectively. this friendly represents a chance to assess their squad and prepare for those group defining matches.

 

Team News

Reece James has withdrawn from the squad due to a leg injury suffered in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool last weekend in the Premier League.

Nico O’Reilly subsequently was called up as James’ replacement.

Wales will be without Aaron Ramsay and Dan James due to a knock and ankle injury respectively.

Cardiff’s Isaak Davies and Rubin Colwill were called up to replace the pair.

 

When is Kick-Off?

England host Wales on Thursday 9 October at Wembley Stadium, London, in a 7:45pm BST kick-off, live on ITV1, S4C and available for streaming on ITVX.

 

Stat Attack

• England have won four of six international friendlies against Wales (W4, L2).
• Wales have won one of four previous away friendlies against England (W1, L3). which came in a 1-0 victory in February 1881.
• England have scored eight goals without conceding in their last two friendlies against Wales, which saw them win 5-0 in February 1883 then 3-0 in October 2020.
• England’s only loss in six games under Thomas Tuchel came in their last friendly outing in June, which saw them lose 3-1 to Senegal in Nottingham.
• Wales kept just one clean sheet in their three away games in 2025 (W1, D1, L1), which came in a 1-0 win against Kazakhstan.

 

Prediction

Given the contrast between turgid and clinically stylish wins over Andorra and Serbia last month, it feels hard initially to predict what sort of England team could turn up but as this is a ‘Battle of Britain’ clash, I do think that we will see a performance akin to the slick football saw in Serbia.

Wales though aren’t a team to be underestimated because under Craig Bellamy, they have been incredibly difficult to beat with both defeats being by one-goal margins which shows how competitive they’ve been but I do expect them to go more defensive here.

This clash therefore should be a brilliant scrap between two in-form teams but Wales will have one eye on their crucial home qualifier against Belgium, which could be enough for England to snatch the win here if the Welsh don’t roll over like in their last two friendly visits across the border.

Prediction: England 2-1 Wales

Result: England 3-0 Wales