Gareth Southgate’s England have been excellent over the course of 180 minutes of World Cup qualifying Group I football. The Three Lions defeated San Marino 5-0 and Albania 2-0 to kick off qualifying for World Cup 2022.
Now, England host Poland at Wembley in their most difficult game of qualifying thus far. The Three Lions are atop of Group I with six points, two more than Poland.
Paulo Sousa’s Polish national team can rival England for first place in Group I. However, Poland need to win on Wednesday night to keep the English from putting more distance between the nations.
The big news going into the game is the injury to Poland striker Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich man injured his knee on Sunday against Andorra and is ruled out of Wednesday night’s game.
Lewandowski limped off of the pitch on Sunday and will also miss Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga top of the table clash with RB Leipzig at the weekend thanks to ligament damage. Sousa has further issues with the team’s fitness going into the game.
Polish midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak and defender Kamil Piatkowski tested positive for coronavirus. They are the second and third players in the squad to test positive. The good news for Sousa is that the rest of the squad tested negative for the virus.
Southgate has little reason to alter the Three Lions following the team’s 2-0 win over Albania. Harry Kane got on the scoresheet and provided a goal during the game. He should start once more in attack with Raheem Sterling on either side.
Phil Foden’s place on the opposite wing could be up for grabs with an in-form Jesse Lingard potentially coming into the side. Southgate should continue with goalie Nick Pope, but could give Dean Henderson the chance to start the fixture instead.
England and Poland have met 19 times in international play since 1966. The Three Lions have posted a record of 11W-7D-1L during that time period.
The national teams have not played since 2013 during the World Cup 2014 qualifying period. England won that fixture 2-0.
Poland are England’s first real challenge of World Cup Group I qualifying. With three key players for the Polish set to miss out, including Lewandowski, the Three Lions should have no issue staying unbeaten in the group.
England should see a lower scoring game against Poland than they did against Albania or San Marino. Poland should keep this one close.