England will face Tunisia as they kick of their 2018 World Cup Campaign and Gareth Southgate has already told his 23 man squad who is starting.
Plenty of speculation has surfaced in the past few days regarding England’s starting line-up to face Tunisia with Fabian Delph revealing that Gareth Southgate has already named his side to start vs Tunisia to his players.
WATCH: Fabian Delph has revealed that Gareth Southgate has already picked his starting XI for #ENG v #TUN on Monday evening ?
Who would be in your team for England’s opening game of the #WorldCup? pic.twitter.com/qj17ihM9hV
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 16, 2018
BREAKING: Gareth Southgate confirms he has told players @England team to face Tunisia in Volgograd tomorrow. #SSN pic.twitter.com/tfM3eNGpCZ
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 17, 2018
Chief football writer Jason Burt of the Telegraph reported this weekend that Ashley Young, Jordan Henderson and Harry Maguire are expected to be included by Gareth Soouthgate.
It is clear that Southgate prefers to play a 3-5-2, deploying the formation in both of England’s warm-up World Cup fixtures.
Therefore, we would expect the starting eleven to face Tunisia to take the following shape:
Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Lingard, Henderson, Alli, Young; Sterling, Kane.
Ashley Young looks to be preferred to Danny Rose at left-wingback due the United star’s superior delivery and crossing capabilities and Harry Maguire could get the nod over Gary Cahill despite the Chelsea defender’s impressive performance vs Nigeria in a recent friendly at Wembley.
Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson could beat Tottenham star Eric Dier to the holding midfield role with Henderson a midfielder who prefers to play on the front foot out of the two, which will favour England in their opening two games against sides that are likely to sit deep and defend as a block.
Dier however could be included against the likes of Belgium to add needed defensive quality against superior attacking talent. Dele Alli or Jesse Lingard will likely be compromised against better opposition to give England more defensive stability.
Perhaps the most interesting position ahead of the Tunisia clash will be who plays on the shoulder off of Harry Kane. Raheem Sterling looked the clear favourite for the position two weeks ago but following Marcus Rashford’s impressive performance and goal vs Costa Rica at Elland Road, many have called for him to be included.
Rashford however missed a number of days of training last week due to a niggling injury and is therefore likely to start on the bench for the Tunisia game.
Let us know your preferred England side for tomorrow below.