After a decent showing but disappointing result from Saturday’s game against Spain, England travel to the Czech Republic to take on their more favourable opponent of the Nations League group stage in a Czechia side who also failed to win their opening game, and have won just 1 of their last 5 outings. With England winning the last 3 meetings, this group under Tuchel will be keen to lay down a marker ahead of their remaining Nations League clashes this break.

In our preview of the game we are going to take a look at the team news coming into the game including our predicted XI for this one, we will have a look at some of the key battles and players to watch and then of course we will make a prediction for how this one could play out.

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Team News

England are likely to make 2 changes from their starting XI against Spain and although this international break has been filled with withdrawals for several key players, the squad depth is still strong enough to put a formidable selection together.

The changes being predicted for the clash are in the full-back roles, with O’Reilly out of the squad likely to be replaced by Lewis Hall, and Trent Alexander-Arnold is being touted for a start in place of Quansah. The rest of the XI will likely remain unchanged with Kane and Bellingham among the players keen to play every minute possible, and we could see some rotation later on to manage minutes for several players.

Predicted XI: Trafford, Hall, Guehi, Konsa, Trent, Lewis-Skelly, Anderson, Gordon, Bellingham, Saka, Kane

Key Battles

Both teams have struggled with squad withdrawals for this international break, with England losing 5 players at the start of camp, and Czechia losing 7 players prior to their loss against Croatia, it’s a squad lacking a key talismanic figure that on paper at least shows a gulf in quality.

With few notable names from an English perspective within their squad, Czechia under new manager Santi Denia have the new Newcastle keeper Hornicek to try and keep out Kane and co, while former West Ham man Coufal will have a tough challenge up against the bright looking Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall on the left side of England’s attack.

From a Czechia perspective, they’ll be looking at Sulc and Hlozek to cause the England defence some issues, and with Trafford putting a case forward for the no.1 England spot, he will be keen to keep a clean sheet and the defence to limit errors after conceding 3 on Saturday evening.

Prediction

England put in a decent showing against Spain despite ending with defeat, and given their ‘on paper’ quality they should have too much for a Czechia side who had little dominance in their last game against Croatia despite keeping the game level until late on. England should be looking to continue their positive approach, and get points on the board in this one.

If England can open the scoring early, they should be able to maintain their dominance on the clash and the likes of Kane and co can add to their international goal tallies.

Czechia 0-3 England

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