England vs Albania Predictions

• England beat Albania 2-0 and 5-0 in home and away World Cup qualifiers in 2021
• England have covered a -1 handicap in five of their last six matches
• Albania have failed to score in three of their last five games

Recalled stars central to Tuchel’s tactics

England’s Thomas Tuchel era finally begins with a home World Cup qualifier against Albania on Friday evening and the Three Lions should rise to the occasion.

A squad that had been settled under Gareth Southgate until the former coach decided to go with youth at the Euros has now seen several of the old guard return. Forgotten men Jordan Henderson, Reece James and Marcus Rashford are back in favour while the selection of Dan Burn indicates Tuchel wants to make use of England’s physical attributes against Albania.

James assisted Harry Maguire’s opener and Henderson also scored in a 5-0 home win over Kuqezinjte at Wembley in 2021 when the hosts’ aerial domination unnerved the visitors. Albania will be fearful of suffering a similar fate this time around and will likely try to keep the score down with a defensive mindset.

Albania unlikely to cave in completely

Head coach Sylvinho has included Chelsea’s Armando Broja, who looked sharp on his first appearance since January in Everton’s 1-1 draw with West Ham on Saturday. Their gameplan could be to sit deep and try to get Broja the ball in space on the counter attack, but England are not short of pace in defence either.

Tuchel’s team should get the job done with the extra motivation offered to this group of establishing themselves under a new coach moving towards a World Cup likely to have them all on their toes. But Albania are unlikely to cave in either — their results at the Euros, a 2-1 loss to Italy, 2-2 draw with Croatia and 1-0 loss to Spain, suggest they will hang in there.

However, England may still cover a -1 handicap on Friday. The Three Lions did that in five of their six post-Euros games under Lee Carsley and have enough players with a point to prove to ensure Albania don’t get a sniff of a point.