Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson made an impressive first senior England start in the Three Lions’ 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier against Andorra at Villa Park on September 6.
Anderson joined Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice in midfield for a 2-0 win in Thomas Tuchel’s fifth match in charge, having been ever-present in Forest’s first three games of the Premier League season.
The performance continued a memorable year for the 22-year-old, who was named in the 2025 Under-21 Euro team of the tournament after the Young Lions successfully defended their title in June.
101GreatGoals.com takes a look at Anderson’s career, stats and link with Scotland as the newcomer aims to help his country reach the World Cup.
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Elliot Anderson stats: Forest, England
Anderson joined Newcastle’s youth set-up in 2010, making his debut in an FA Cup defeat to Arsenal as an 18-year-old in January 2021 and receiving his Premier League bow in a loss to the same opponents later that month.
A productive loan spell to Bristol Rovers in 2021/22 ended in promotion from League Two, and Anderson made 27 appearances for Newcastle the following season, starting each of their final three league games.
He became a regular in 2023/24 but missed 25 matches with a back injury, also featuring in Euro Under-21 qualifying for England.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe relucantly allowed Anderson to join Forest for £35 million in June 2024 because the Magpies were under pressure to sell players in order to comply with Premier League spending rules.
Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo played Anderson in all but two games in 2024/25, making 33 league starts before playing an important role in England’s Under-21 Euro title defence, including a goal in their 3-1 quarter-final win over Spain.
Has Elliot Anderson played for Scotland?
Born in the town of Whitley Bay in North Tyneside, Anderson represented Scotland from Under-16 to Under-21 level because of a grandmother on his father’s side who was born in Glasgow.
Current Scotland manager Steve Clarke called Anderson up for a Euro 2024 qualifier against Cyprus and a friendly with England in August 2023, but the prospect pulled out through injury and received his first England Under-21 call-up a year later.
“I’m definitely English,” Anderson told the Guardian days before his senior England debut. “That’s where I see myself.
“It’s just I hadn’t really been called up to England throughout the ages when I was younger, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to play [for Scotland].
“Then, once I got that belief that I thought I was good enough to play for England, it hit me, and I focused on England.”
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Full England squad for September 2025 World Cup qualifiers
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson, James Trafford
Defenders: Dan Burn, Marc Guehi, Reece James, Ezri Konsa, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Tino Livramento, Djed Spence, John Stones*
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice, Morgan Rogers, Adam Wharton*
Forwards: Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, Noni Madueke, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins
* Withdrew through injury. Wharton replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek
England World Cup qualifiers: What group are they in?
England are in Group K alongside Albania, Latvia, Andorra and Serbia. Of those opponents, Serbia’s standing of 32 at the start of qualifying made them by far the highest-ranked team Tuchel’s side will face.
Serbia proved tricky opponents at Euro 2024, with only a Jude Bellingham goal separating the teams in their opener in Germany.
Including games as Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro, Dragan Stojkovic’s nation have lost their last five meetings with England, although they held an impressive record of one defeat in their last 21 World Cup qualifying matches before the group began, winning 14 and drawing six.
⏪ Back in November 2021…
🏴5️⃣-0️⃣🇦🇱 pic.twitter.com/JfIJQD39r0
— England (@England) March 21, 2025
Latvia are ranked 137th and have never played England before, while Andorra are 174th and have lost all seven of the encounters between the countries by an aggregate score of 26-0, although only a Harry Kane goal separated the sides during the current campaign.
Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka, Tammy Abraham, James Ward-Prowse and Jack Grealish scored when England won 5-0 in Andorra in October 2021.
Albania are ranked 68th and lost 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in Tuchel’s first match in charge and England’s first qualifer on March 21.
They are one of five nations England have faced more than six times and won against every time, alongside Luxembourg (9), San Marino (8), Malta (7) and Andorra (6).
Togetherness and creating a bond 🤝 pic.twitter.com/hkQRundhgg
— England (@England) March 21, 2025
England football team World Cup qualifying fixtures
All fixtures start at 19:45 UK time (14:45 ET / 11:45 PT) unless otherwise stated.
Friday, March 21: England 2-0 Albania
Monday, March 24: England 3-0 Latvia
Saturday, June 7: Andorra 0-1 England
Saturday, September 6: England 2-0 Andorra
Tuesday, September 9: Serbia vs England
Tuesday, October 14: Latvia vs England
Thursday, November 13: England vs Serbia
Sunday, November 16: Albania vs England (17:00)
Sound on for this one. 🤩🔊 pic.twitter.com/ozcnaDn58Q
— England (@England) March 19, 2025
England games: What happens if Three Lions top group?
The top team from each of the 12 European Qualifier groups proceeds automatically to the finals, which will be expanded to 48 teams.
Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Croatia are among the other favourites to win their groups.
What happens if England finish second in World Cup qualifiers?
England will be eliminated if they finish third or below and enter the play-offs between March 26-31 2026 if they come second.
The 12 runners-up in each group will join four Nations League teams in the play-offs, which will be drawn from pots based on teams’ records during the campaign. The games will comprise single-leg semi-finals and finals.
The draw for the World Cup finals will take place in December 2025. The tournament runs from June 11 until July 19 2026.
