England cruised past Wales on Thursday but that result does not eradicate their two unconvincing Nations League performances against Denmark and Iceland. Meanwhile, the visitors sit top of the world rankings and their last group game saw them crush Iceland 5-1.
ENGLAND (3–4-2-1): Jordan Pickford; Eric Dier, Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson; Mason Mount, Marcus Rashford; Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
SUBS: Danny Ings, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Conor Coady, Nick Pope, Kalvin Phillips, Tyrone Mings, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Dean Henderson, Harry Kane, James Ward-Prowse, Reece James.
BELGIUM (3-4-2-1): Simon Mignolet; Jason Denayer, Dedryck Boyata, Toby Alderweireld; Thomas Meunier, Axel Witsel, Youri Tielemans, Timothy Castagne; Kevin De Bruyne, Yannick Carrasco; Romelu Lukaku.
SUBS: Jeremy Doku, Divock Origi, Brandon Mechele, Yari Verschaeren, Leander Dendoncker, Hans Vanaken, Davy Roef, Michy Batshuayi, Joris Kayembe, Christian Benteke, Leandro Trossard, Thomas Kaminski.
Despite impressing against Wales, Gareth Southgate again opts to leave out Grealish. Trippier and Calvert-Lewin are the only two to stay in the team from Thursday as England’s manager makes nine changes in total. Regular starter Kane, whose fitness may be a concern, starts on the bench.
Roberto Martinez also goes for a three-man defence and makes eight changes to the team that drew with Ivory Coast in midweek. De Bruyne captains the visitors, while Mignolet starts in goal as Belgium have three goalkeepers out injured, including Thibaut Courtois.
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The hosts lost just one of their first 21 matches against Belgium (W15 D5) but have since lost each of their last two games against the Belgians, both at the 2018 World Cup.
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