England make the long trip to Riga where they face Latvia at the Daugavas Stadionā on Tuesday night, with Thomas Tuchel's in a position to seal qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a victory.
The Three Lions currently have a four point lead atop group K, with Albania in second place having only two games left while England have three. A win over Latvia would extend England's lead to seven points, which would seal qualfication for next summer's World Cup.
While the absence of Jude Bellingham from Tuchel's squad continues to grab headlines, England's other stars were influential in a 3-0 win over Wales on Thursday. Bukayo Saka, Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers scored three goals inside the first twenty minutes as Tuchel's side romped home to a comfortable win at Wembley.
Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze were both rested against Wales and ought to make Tuchel's starting lineup against Latvia, with Marcus Rashford also in line to feature in the starting XI. Kane and Eze were on the scoresheet the last time these two teams met in March, with Reece James also finding the net in a 3-0 win at Wembley.
With five points from six games, Latvia need a win to keep their qualification hopes alive, a scenario that's quite unlikely given their remaining two opponents are England and Serbia. Paolo Nicolato's side looked to have earned their first win in six games while leading 2-1 against Andorra last weekend only to concede a late equaliser.
How to watch:
The match will be available on ITV in the U.K., Fox Sports in the United States, Stan Sport in Australia, and SonyLIV in India. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 7:45 p.m. BST (2:45 p.m. ET; 12.15 a.m. IST, Wednesday and 5:45 a.m. AEST, Wednesday)
Venue: Daugavas Stadionā, Rīga, Latvia
Referee: Tasos Sidiropoulos (Greece)
VAR: Angelos Evangelou (Greece)
Team news:
Latvia
Paolo Nicolato has a fully-fit squad to choose from.
England
Jarell Quansah returned home with a knee injury, while Watkins is a doubt after coming off at half-time in England's victory over Wales.
Expected Lineups:
England (4-2-3-1)
GK: Jordan Pickford
RB: Djed Spence | CB: John Stones | CB: Marc Guéhi | LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly
CM: Elliot Anderson | CM: Declan Rice
RW: Bukayo Saka | CAM: Eberechi Eze | LW: Marcus Rashford
CF: Harry Kane
Latvia
GK: Krisjanis Zviedris
CB: Raivis Andris Jurkovskis | CB: Antonijs Cernomordijs | CB: Daniels Balodis
LM: Andrej Ciganiks CM: Aleksejs Saveljevs | CM: Dario Sits | RM: Roberts Savalnieks
AM: Janis Ikaunieks | AM: Dmitrijs Zelenkovs
ST: Vladislavs Gutkovskis
Stats:
Jordan Pickford became the first goalkeeper in England's history to play eight consecutive games without conceding a goal. He brought up his 40th clean sheet against Wales - only Peter Shilton (58) has more.
England are yet to concede a goal under Thomas Tuchel in five competitive matches, with the 1-3 friendly defeat against Senegal being the only time they've let in a goal.
This is only the second ever meeting between Latvia and England, with England winning the first 3-0 in March earlier this year.
Latvia will be the 72nd country England have played an away game against.
Latvia last avoided defeat against a top-10 ranked nation in 2004, a 0-0 draw against Germany.
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