Preview for Serbia v England
Thomas Tuchel is anticipating more of the same when England visit Serbia tomorrow night.
The Three Lions made it four wins from four in World Cup qualifying Group K on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Andorra but it was another lethargic display with England struggling to break down the European minnows at Villa Park.
It took 25 minutes before the breakthrough came via a Christian Garcia own goal with Declan Rice nodding in the second from Reece James’ excellent cross.
Andorra’s approach, which was understandable given their relative lack of resources, was to sit back and contain England and Tuchel is expecting Serbia to adopt similar tactics in Belgrade.
The German said: “I expect another game with a lot of possession for us in Belgrade against a very different style of play but the same deep low block.
“I expect us to again have a lot of ball possession. It is then about where to speed up the game, and to focus on the details.”
A win will move England eight points clear of Serbia with their opponents having just four games to make up the deficit.
“We are the favourites in this qualification group. We accept it, we have the quality to win this group – we demand it from ourselves,” added Tuchel, who knows the home side will be roared on by a partisan crowd tomorrow night in what promises to be their most difficult game in the group.
“We want to win and be tough. We expect a very emotional stadium. We have to adapt.
“We’ll come up against a very physical team who I think will attack us in a man-to-man situation. They have high quality up front, they play very direct and we have to step up to this and prove we are a strong group in the right way.”
Serbia won 1-0 in Latvia at the weekend, Dusan Vlahovic scoring the only goal, although they had to survive a scare in injury time with the hosts’ Renars Varslavans hitting the base of the post.
“The most important thing is that we won, we have already forgotten the match with Latvia and turned to the match against England,” said Vlahovic. “We need to be much better, we know how strong our rivals are.”
Team News for Serbia v England
Aleksandar Mitrovic could return for Serbia while Nemanja Gudelj and Nemanja Maksimovic are set to bolster the midfield.
England will likely field a similar line-up to the weekend, meaning another start for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson.
Anderson enjoyed an outstanding debut on Saturday, earning praise from Tuchel.
“He’s just a very, very good football player,” Tuchel said. “He has the physicality, he’s very mobile at No 6. He has the body, he loves to defend, he loves to put his body inside to duels. He loves passing, he loves to break the lines, he’s very mobile in this game. It was a pleasure to see.
“I think the team around him made it as easy as possible for him and he had a very strong performance. I think he showed today that he adapts to the situation. Can he show what he showed in training? Can he show what he showed with Nottingham and the under-21s? He played with a lot of freedom. He was very quickly in the flow. I think he has the physicality and he has the mindset to play in more difficult games. And for this performance he is clearly in the mix to play in Serbia.”
Marcus Rashford and Eberechi Eze may miss out after underwhelming displays against Andorra. Morgan Gibbs-White and Morgan Rogers could come in.
Predicted line-ups for Serbia v England
Serbia: Petrovic; Milenkovic, Erakovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, Gudelj, Maksimovic, Samardzic, Terzic; Vlahovic, Mitrovic
England: Pickford; James, Guehi, Burn, Lewis-Skelly; Rice, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Madueke, Rogers; Kane
How to watch Serbia v England: TV and online streams
Serbia versus England kicks-off at 7.45pm UK time tomorrow night. It is being shown on ITV1 and can be streamed on the ITVX app.
Stats for Serbia v England
- England won the teams’ last meeting, 1-0 at last summer’s European Championship, Jude Bellingham scoring the only goal
- Their only other clash was in 2003 with England winning 2-1
Prediction for Serbia v England
England will need to up their game after five largely forgettable displays under Tuchel with Serbia good enough to take advantage.
The visitors ought to have enough not to lose but a win will depend on whether they can find more creativity in the final third.
Prediction: Serbia 1-1 England
