By Goal.com News on Wednesday, 31 March 2021
Category: Goal.com News

LIVE: England vs Poland

15' Although the initial line-ups suggested Foden in midfield and Mount on the right, Southgate has, in fact, gone for the opposite. Mount is operating a little deeper in midfield, often cropping up inside the left-hand channel, while Foden is drifting in from the right to support Kane and Sterling up top.

14' Rice goes on a rare foray forward, evading two or three tackles before moving a pass out to the left-hand side. Sterling attempts to cut in and cross towards the far post but Bednarek gets in front of Foden to head away.

12' Chilwell clips a pass over the top of the Poland defence for the run of Sterling into the area but Glik leaps powerfully to head clear. Possession then falls back to the hosts as they continue to dictate the early proceedings of this game.

11' This is the seventh World Cup group stage qualification campaign to see England face Poland, the most of two nations in the history of European World Cup qualifying. England have faced Poland in two of the three campaigns they’ve failed to qualify from, for the 1974 and 1994 World Cups.

10' Foden has the ball in the right-hand channel, ghosting inside and going down inside the area under the pressure of Krychowiak. Referee Kuipers isn't interested as he waves play on but replays show Krychowiak did have a handful of Foden's shirt there.

9' Pope comes a long way out of his area to race in front of Piatek and slam a clearance into the stands. Maguire and Stones looked a little concerned there but their goalkeeper was quick off his line to avert the danger.

8' CHANCE! Mount and Chilwell exchange passes on the left flank, with the latter reaching the byline and standing up a cross towards the penalty spot. Kane manages to get underneath the ball but Foden meets it, heading well over Szczesny's goal despite being under fairly little pressure.

6' Zielinski rolls through Piatek in the middle of the park but Stones is quick and alert to the danger, diving in with a standing tackle before the forward gets the chance to trouble Pope. Bednarek then smashes into Kane and blocks the England captain from taking a quick free-kick in the right-hand channel.

4' Mount and Chilwell work space for Sterling, however, the Manchester City's man wastes the opportunity by taking a heavy first touch and Moder intervenes outside the visitors' area.

3' Walker beats Rybus with ease, racing inside but there are no options to pass to further ahead of him. Maguire and Stones keep possession at their feet as the home side look to carve an opening through the Poland defence, who have started off sitting deep.

2' Chilwell nearly gets caught out by Bereszynski early doors but the right wing-back fails to keep the ball in play and the hosts get away with it. Stones is then required to tidy up and England work possession from one side of the pitch to the other.

1' Referee Bjorn Kuipers gets this game underway!

The players are wandering out on to the Wembley Stadium pitch and shortly it will be time for kick-off.

England have won their last seven home matches against Poland, a run stretching back to 1989. The Three Lions last failed to win at home against the Poles back in 1973, drawing 1-1 in a World Cup qualifier, a result that saw England fail to reach the 1974 World Cup.

Crucially for Paulo Sousa’s men, Robert Lewandowski misses out with a knee injury and Swiderski replaces him. Alongside the enforced change, the visitors also make three other changes as they move to a three-man defence. Centre-backs Celik and Bednarek join Glik in defence, while Moder comes in for Milik, who drops to the bench. Positive Covid-19 tests for Lukasz Skorupski and Mateusz Klich mean they also miss out.

Gareth Southgate opts for just the one change from the Albania game. Chilwell is preferred to Shaw at left-back, as Southgate again opts for a back four instead of a back three. James Ward-Prowse misses out of the squad entirely, returning to Southampton early as a fitness precaution for the remainder of the Premier League campaign.

SUBS: Arkadiusz Milik, Rafal Augustyniak, Paweł Dawidowicz, Lukasz Fabianski, Kamil Grosicki, Sebastian Kowalczyk, Kamil Jozwiak, Przemyslaw Placheta, Karol Niemczycki, Sebastian Szymanski, Kacper Kozlowski, Arkadiusz Reca.

POLAND (3-4-2-1): Wojciech Szczesny; Michal Celik, Kamil Glik, Jan Bednarek; Bartosz Bereszynski, Maciej Rybus, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jakub Moder; Piotr Zielinski, Karol Swiderski; Krzysztof Piatek.

SUBS: Eric Dier, Luke Shaw, Tyrone Mings, Conor Coady, Reece James, Jude Bellingham, Jesse Lingard, Sam Johnstone, Dean Henderson, Ollie Watkins, Kieran Tripper, Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

ENGLAND (4-3-3): Nick Pope; Ben Chilwell, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker; Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, Phil Foden; Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Mason Mount.

After a 5-0 thrashing of San Marino and an efficient performance away at Albania to win 2-0, England face their largest challenge of the group yet. Poland, who disappointed in a 3-3 draw with Hungary, corrected their wrongdoings by cruising past Andorra 3-0 on the weekend, meaning they have four points from two matches.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup qualifying Group I fixture between England and Poland at Wembley Stadium.

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