The Thomas Tuchel era started on Friday in Solid as non-spectacular fashion, in which England claimed a 2-0 victory over Albania to start their qualifying top campaign 2026.
Although Tuchel largely relied on the core of players who served the three lions well during the eight years the leadership of Gareth Southgate, there were a few surprise inclusions in his first line-up then Burn and Myles Lewis-Skell won their first caps.
Lewis-Skelly could hardly have hoped for a better start, to hold on to a nice beam from Jude Bellingham to score a 20th minute more open and etch his name in the record books.
18 years and 176 days, the full-back of Arsenal became the youngest player who scored on his senior debut in England and surpassed the record of Marcus Rashford of 18 years and 209 days against Australia in May 2016.
Harry Kane later added a second goal when Tuchel became the 11th permanent manager of England in a row to win his first game.
Because Serbia only starts their campaign in June, the Three Lions now have the chance to put a real distance between themselves and their most important group K -Rivalals.
Will Tuchel make two victories of so many competitions when Latvia visits Wembley on Monday? Here we look ahead to the game with our opta-driven preview.
What is expected?
England, fourth in the FIFA World Rankings, made light work of the team in 65th place in Albania, so it is no surprise that they are heavy favorites to overcome 140th Latvia.
The men from Tuchel conquered in 94% of the 10,000 pre-match simulations of the OPTA super computer, lost in 4% in only 2% and drawing.
The three lions are unbeaten in their last 32 World Cup qualifications after Friday's victory (24 victories, eight draws), the longest running series of each European nation.
However, Latvia is unbeaten in their last three world cup qualifications, with 0-0 drawn with Norway and Gibraltar 3-1 to complete their failed attempt to reach Qatar 2022.
They last went more competitions without defeat in World Cup qualifications between October 2008 and September 2009 (five competitions) – Their return of 17 points in that qualifying campaign for the World Cup 2010 was the best in their history.
So maybe this will not be as easy as it looks like on paper for England.
Tuchel wants more of his broad players
There was a lot of pre-game interest in how Tuchel would draw up England against Albania, especially after the former coach of Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich said that the three lions missed an identity at Euro 2024.
Tuchel stated that his team would play with the kind of physicality and dynamics that was seen in the Premier League, although Albania's ultra-defensive approach made it difficult on Friday.
There was little opportunity to see Tuchel's trademark High Press in action while Albania was 11 men behind the ball and England had to stay patient in their approach game.
Their 437 successful passes in the first half of the match were their most in the first half of each registration with OPTA in every competition.
437 – England completed 437 in the first half against Albania, their most in the first half of every match on Opta's records in every competition. Version. pic.twitter.com/CI1WMYSMZWZW
– Optajoe (@Optajoe) March 21, 2025
Their total of 863 passes (811 completed) by full -time was also the fifth most registered England in every world cup qualification. Only against San Marino (three times, once in 2012 and twice in 2021) and Malta (in 2016) did they play more passes in a qualification.
But Tuchel stated after the game that England needed more of their wing players, and said that Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden “were not as decisive as they can” and called on being more direct.
Rashford tried (five) and completed (three) more dribbles than any other player on the field against Albania, although he only created one chance and tried no shot.
With the Anthony Gordon of Newcastle United who gets up on a hip injury late, Rashford could get another chance on Monday, but he will have to improve his end product.
In the meantime, Foden has difficulty finding his best shape in an English shirt for a while, and 17 international performances without a goal or an assist since an assist in a 3-1 friendly victory over Scotland in September 2023.
His starting point can be threatened and Tuchel has alternatives available. Jarrod Bowen van West Ham has created 18 chances this season in the Premier League, with Cole Palmer (23) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (19) the only English players who record more.
Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa is another option, and his 59 take-on end carrys are the joints by every English player in the Premier League this period, alongside Omari Hutchinson of Ipswich Town.
Latvia will certainly follow the leadership of Albania by being deep, and the attackers of England may have to take more risks in one-on-one situations to prevent a frustrating outing.
Can Latvia tame the three lions?
This will be the very first meeting between England and Latvia, who are starting their first qualifying campaign under former Italy youth coach Paolo Nicolato.
They started to start well with Friday's 1-0 victory in Andorra, because Dario 'goal near the hour that Mark ended, ended their four-game Winless Run in all competitions (one draw, three losses).
Latvia has never qualified for a World Cup, with Euro 2004 that represents the only major tournament performance in their history, while last year they also completed the bottom of a Nations League group with North Macedonia, Armenia and the Faröer and the Faöne Islands.
They only won one victory in the qualification of Euro 2024 and lost their other seven games in group D, while their five scored less than all except eight of the 52 other involved teams.
Latvia also shipped 19 goals from 18.79 Expected goals against (XGA) – More than Luxembourg (16.47), Malta (15.63) and Andorra (16.97) allocated their opponents.
Narrow defeats against Turkiye (2-3), Wales (0-1), Poland (0-2) and Croatia (0-2), however, they at least saw in respectable performances, so they can very well be able to frustrate England, at least for part of the game.
Nicolato has set Latvia with three central defenders in Andorra, so Tuchel expect to stand on a flatback five on Monday. Patience may be required of the Wembley -Mixte.
Players to watch
England – Harry Kane
Kane hidden home to score his 70th Senior goal in England in the second half of Friday's victory.
Only seven other players who are still active at international level have accepted the 70 goal for their countries, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Romelu Lukaku, Robert Lewandowski and Neymar including.
Kane also made that strike the first English player who scored at his first performance among three different managers (Roy Hodgson, Southgate and Tuchel), while he has now scored 41 times in 36 performances in the qualification for major tournaments (World Cup/Euro).
Latvia – Vladislavs Gutkovskis
Gutkovskis has 11 senior international goals, although since September 2022 he has not scored for his country in a 1-1 Nations League trek in Andorra.
The striker, who has two goals this year in 10 outings for Daejeon Hana Citizen in the K League 1, scored five times for Latvia in their 2022-23 Nations League campaign, with only Erling Haaland and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored more (six each) in general.
He will probably have his work cut out for a large part of Monday, but Latvia will be looking for him to take opportunities that come on his way.
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