England continue their preparations for the World Cup, hosting Switzerland before another home friendly against Ivory Coast on Tuesday. It might be a friendly, but with the Qatar World Cup just seven months away, Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions will be targeting a convincing win.
The Three Lions rounded off their qualifying campaign with a resounding 10-0 success against San Marino, but Switzerland will provide altogether stiffer opposition. Gareth Southgate has mixed things up with his squad selection, but it’s unlikely that new faces like Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell and Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters will get a great deal of game time.
The last time these two countries faced each other was in 2019 when they competed in the UEFA Nations League for third place, and England came out victorious in the penalty shootout 5-6 as Pickford was the hero for the Three Lions.
Since the Euros, England have collected five wins from a possible seven in World Cup Qualifying – keeping a clean sheet in each of those victories and only shipping a total of two goals in their pair of draws with Poland and Hungary, and it is now 13 unbeaten for the Three Lions at Wembley across all competitions.
Team News:
England: England boss Southgate is already without several players in the form of Tammy Abraham, Aaron Ramsdale, Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold to injury ahead of Saturday’s game, while Sam Johnstone is another late withdrawal due to illness and Bukayo Saka has reportedly missed training earlier this week.
Southgate has also revealed that Emile Smith Rowe is a doubt for the contest, but the Arsenal man would have been unlikely to start in any case.
Switzerland: Switzerland hardly have all of their first-choice XI available either, as veteran goalkeeper Yann Sommer and fellow shot-stopper Philipp Kohn are both unavailable due to injury, so Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel could get the nod at Wembley.
Captain Granit Xhaka needs just two more caps to reach the 100-mark for his country, and a man who has already reached that milestone in Xherdan Shaqiri should occupy the number 10 role on his return to English turf.
Predicted Starting Lineups:
England Predicted starting lineup:
Pickford; Walker-Peters, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Rice, Bellingham; Sterling, Mount, Foden; Kane
Switzerland Predicted starting lineup:
Kobel; Mbabu, Schar, Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Xhaka, Freuler; Okafor, Shaqiri, Vargas; Gavranovic
Match Details:
When will England vs Switzerland kick-off? Date
The match between England vs Switzerland will kick-off on 26th March 2022
What time will England vs Switzerland kick-off? Time
England vs Switzerland will kick-off at 5.30pm GMT
Where will England vs Switzerland be played? Venue
Wembley Stadium (England)
