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#3 Is there pressure on England’s front line?
Assuming England go with their 4-3-3 system for the games against Bulgaria and Kosovo, the general consensus seems to be that the starting trio on the front line would be captain Harry Kane in the middle, with Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho acting as wide forwards alongside him.
All three men have started the 2019/20 season in good form, with 10 goals among them already, and of course, all three have proven their worth to Gareth Southgate in recent games, too.
Where more question marks arise, though, is around the form of the forwards that Southgate has selected to back his first choice trio up. That group is comprised of just two strikers; Marcus Rashford of Manchester United and Callum Wilson of Bournemouth.
While it’s unlikely that either man will start tomorrow or on Tuesday, one or both is surely likely to make an appearance from the bench – and it’s pretty clear that a good performance is almost a must.
England aren’t blessed with many top-class forwards right now – particularly as Jamie Vardy has retired from international football - but some eyebrows were raised when Southgate didn’t select Tammy Abraham of Chelsea, a striker who’s started 2019/20 with four goals in three Premier League starts.
That return puts him ahead of Wilson and Rashford, and while Southgate may have felt these two games were too early for him, if he continues this run of form it’ll be hard to ignore him come October.
Pressure may be on Rashford in particular here; his finishing skills have come under criticism already this season and while he’s been relatively consistent for England, scoring 7 goals since debuting in 2016, he did miss big chances in last autumn’s games against Spain and Croatia. But he does have one ace up his sleeve – he can play as a wide forward, which means it may be Wilson’s spot which is more under threat.
Wilson is less proven at international level, with just 3 caps to his name, and although he scored on his debut against the USA and had a goal chalked off for a foul against Switzerland, he’s also 27 years old and worryingly injury prone.
Given England are expecting big goal returns in these two matches – they put a combined 10 past the Czech Republic and Montenegro in their previous two qualifiers – goals from either Rashford or Wilson would go a long way to cementing them in Southgate’s squad. Draw a blank and it could be them sitting at home while Abraham is selected instead next time around.
