The top two sides in WCQ Group I face off this weekend, with Albania hosting England at Estadio Nacional on Sunday.
Albania claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Andorra on Thursday, while England thrashed San Marino 5-0 at Wembley.
Following Thursday’s victory over Andorra, Albania now head into Sunday’s clash on a four-match winning streak.
On top of that, the Albanians have only lost one of their previous eight games in all competitions, picking up five wins and two draws along the way.
Albania limited Andorra just two shots (one on target) last time out, while they managed to racked up 14 shots (four on target) of their own.
However, they only ended up scoring once, with Ermir Lenjani handed Albania all three points just before half-time.
Meanwhile, England will probably be kicking themselves that they didn’t score more goals against San Marino on Thursday.
Having notched up 85% possession and 32 attempts (15 on target), Gareth Southgate’s men should have added to their tally.
Still, goals from James Ward-Prowse, Raheem Sterling and Ollie Watkins, along with a Dominic Calvert-Lewin brace, got the job done.
England have now won nine of their last 12 matches, including big wins over Bulgaria (6-0), Montenegro (7-0) and Iceland (4-0).
Southgate’s side now have the opportunity to take control of Group I following Poland and Hunagry’s draw in midweek.
Head-to-head: Albania and England have only ever faced each other on four occasions, with each of those meetings coming between 1989 and 2001.
Unsurprisingly, England have beaten Albania four times, scoring a combined total of 12 goals while conceding just once.
Team news: Napoli’s Elseid Jysaj is arguably Albania’s standout player, while strikers Sokol Cikalleshi and Rey Manaj could also cause England some problems.
On the other hand, England will be without the injured Marcus Rashford, while Bukayo Saka is also a doubt. Harry Kane is likely to start after missing Thursday’s game.
England should beat Albania, but Albania will certainly make life more difficult for Southgate’s men than San Marino did on Thursday.
Forebet predicts that England will keep a clean sheet en route to victory over Albania on Sunday, although a low-scoring win is on the cards for the away side.