England vs Switzerland is the next international friendly match taking place at the Wembley Stadium, London.
England vs Switzerland: Match Preview:
England begin life in 2022 with a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley on Saturday afternoon.
With Qatar just around the corner now, Gareth Southgate has but a few games in which to prepare his team for the tournament, with the next break coming during the UEFA Nations League schedule in June.
Rather unhelpfully, Southgate has to had to deal with a number of dropouts for this camp, which also includes a friendly against the Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
Still, having finished 2021 so strongly, excitement is in the air. After the run to the Euro 2020 final, the mood inside Wembley has been revamped and even reasonably low-key friendlies have taken on a different kind of atmosphere.
With the World Cup so close, players are fighting for their places in the squad, which should make for an interesting few games.
Team News:
England:
England boss Southgate has already lost 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 pulled out of the squad with COVID-19.
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With a lack of out-and-out right-backs in the ranks - somewhat of a surprise given England's track record in that position - the uncapped Kyle Walker-Peters could be in line for his Three Lions debut in a back four this weekend.
Crystal Palace duo Marc Guehi and Tyrick Mitchell will also be out to earn their first minutes for the senior team, as Harry Kane seeks to move level with or surpass second-placed Bobby Charlton in the Three Lions' scoring charts, with the skipper boasting 48 strikes compared to Charlton's 49.
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.
Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria and 24-goal striker Haris Seferovic also miss out as they continue their spells in the treatment room, with Mario Gavranovic preparing to shoulder the goalscoring burden here. Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar has also pulled out with an adductor issue.
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.
England vs Switzerland: Head to Head:
After their heartbreaking defeat to Italy in the final of last yearโs delayed Euro 2020 tournament, England wasted no time in getting back to business in their FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the end of 2021.
Gareth Southgateโs men won five of seven games that followed their loss to Italy, beating Hungary, Andorra, Albania and San Marino and drawing with Poland and Hungary. More importantly, they scored a ludicrous 30 goals across those games, with captain Harry Kane being responsible for ten of them.
Recent performances in all competitions:
England:
1-1 draw against Poland
5-0 win over Andorra
1-1 draw against Hungary
5-0 win over Albania
10-0 win over San Marino
Switzerland:
0-0 draw against Northern Ireland
2-0 win over Northern Ireland
4-0 win over Lithuania
1-1 draw against Italy
4-0 win over Bulgaria
England vs Switzerland: Predicted Line-ups:
England (4-3-3): Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker-Peters, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Phil Foden, Harry Kane, Jack Grealish.
Switzerland (4-2-3-1): Gregor Kobel, Silvan Widmer, Fabian Schar, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez, Djibril Sow, Remo Freuler, Ruben Vargas, Xherdan Shaqiri, Steven Zuber, Breel Embolo.
ENG vs SWI: Dream11 Predictions:
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