Euro 2020 Qualifiers: 4 reasons why Tammy Abraham should start for England

#2 The games are largely meaningless

England hammered Montenegro 1-5 in March, meaning their upcoming game should be easy

Despite some fans pleading for Gareth Southgate to blood more young talent in their most recent fixtures, the England boss largely stuck to his tried and tested players, and to be fair he had reason for this: Southgate has always stated that the sole aim of the Euro 2020 qualifiers should be to ensure a spot at next summer’s tournament, with any other plans kept largely on the backburner.

With two games to go, though, that spot is practically set in stone. England have won 5 of their 6 games, have a hefty goal advantage over every other side in the group, and need just a single point against Montenegro this week to ensure qualification.

Given Montenegro were thumped 1-5 in their own backyard by the Three Lions in March, it’s hardly a stretch to assume that Southgate’s team shouldn’t have an issue in collecting all three points in the game, let alone the single one they need for qualification.

Essentially then, the two upcoming fixtures ought to be largely one-sided affairs in favour of England – almost akin to friendly fixtures. With that in mind, what would be the harm in replacing Southgate’s favoured central striker Harry Kane with someone newer like Abraham? It’s not like the upcoming fixtures are similar to say, England’s do-or-die trip to Rome for a World Cup qualifier in 1997, after all.

If he wanted to play it really safe, Southgate could even start the usual suspects against Montenegro to ensure qualification before changing things up for Sunday’s match with Kosovo. Either way, experimentation is hardly a risk in these games – and so it makes sense for him to deploy Abraham in them.