England will face off against Albania as part of the final two matches in England’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
Gareth Southgate’s side know that picking up a win in either of their final two qualifying fixtures should see them qualify for the 2022 World Cup proper.
However, should England lose to Albania and results go against them elsewhere, the final game against San Marino will become a must win game for England with both Albania and Poland close enough to still overtake England.
With the initial squad Southgate called up beset by injuries to a number of high profile players, who will he call upon to see the Three Lions over the line against Albania?
Below is our predicted line up based on who is available for Southgate.
We predict that Southgate will opt for his most tried and trusted players that got the squad all the way to Euro 2020 final.
With Luke Shaw and Mason Mount both major doubts for the Albania game, along with Marcus Rashford, James Ward-Prowse and Declan Rice all being forced to drop out of the squad due to injuries, Southgate will go with what he knows will work rather than try something new.
Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, John Stones and Harry Maguire will all start, along with Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell, who didn’t play one single minute at Euro 2020. Chilwell will start through necessity, due to Southgate’s squad not having another fit option to play at left-back.
Jordan Henderson will fill in for Rice in centre midfield along with Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Philips.
Bukayo Saka, Jack Grealish and England player of Euro 2020 Raheem Sterling will all start behind captain Harry Kane.
Despite this you can easily expect players such as Phil Foden to get some minutes in the game, likely coming on around the 60th or 70th minute when England need some fresh impetus.
Southgate may even hand a debut to Emile Smith Rowe, who has been in good form for Arsenal this season.