Key events
Some more on the Peter-Shilton-bothering antics of England’s current captain. (We are of course assuming Kane won’t do himself a mischief in the warm-up. Shilts must be cursing that alternate-appearance arrangement with Ray Clemence during the late 1970s, huh?)
The big news – of course – is Harry Kane’s record-equalling appearance for England. He leads the line tonight and by doing so, earns his 125th cap. He joins Peter Shilton at the head of a distinguished list (see below). Shilton took 21 years to clock up that number of caps; Kane has just needed 11, since coming on for Wayne Rooney against Lithuania as a 21-year-old in 2015 and taking just 79 seconds to score his first international goal.
The other bits of team news aren’t insignificant, though. Trent Alexander-Arnold, who made his first start for England in nearly two years last week in Prague, but sat out the weekend rout of Croatia, reclaims his spot at right-back. Jarell Quansah, who took his place in Rijeka, moves to the centre of defence. Meanwhile Myles Lewis-Skelly deputises for the injured Alex Scott, while Eberechi Eze replaces the in-form Anthony Gordon on the left flank. Morgan Rogers also gets a start.
The teams
England: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Guehi, Hall, Anderson, Bellingham, Lewis-Skelly, Rogers, Kane, Eze.
Czechia: Hornicek, Coufal, Vitik, Hranac, Slama, Kral, Sadilek, Sulc, Ambros, Naderi, Lingr.
Some early team news. It’s piping hot off the press, courtesy of our man at Wembley, Jacob Steinberg …
Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to get another chance at right-back tonight. He impressed in Prague last week. Eberechi Eze is also poised to make his first start of this camp.
It’s going to be a big evening for our Admin and Housekeeping department, as a couple of tables will need significantly updating by the end of it. First up there’s Group A3 of the Nations League, which currently stands like this …
1. Spain P3 GD+6 Pts 9
2. England P3 GD+8 Pts 6
3. Croatia P3 GD-9 Pts 3
4. Czechia P3 GD-5 Pts 0
… and there’ll also be the small matter of England men’s all-time appearance chart, the top of which is forecast to be hit by a crossfire Harry Kane. It’s a gas, gas, gas!
125: Peter Shilton
124: Harry Kane
120: Wayne Rooney
115: David Beckham
114: Steven Gerrard
108: Bobby Moore
107: Ashley Cole
106: Bobby Charlton, Frank Lampard
105: Billy Wright
96: Kyle Walker
94: John Stones
91: Jordan Henderson, Jordan Pickford
90: Bryan Robson
Preamble
Czechia have played 14 matches in the last 12 months. They’ve only won four of them: against San Marino, Gibraltar, Kosovo and Guatemala. They’ve lost their last four straight: against Mexico, Croatia, Spain and … England, who by contrast are coming off the back of a third-placed finish at the World Cup, a decent showing against the new world champions, and an historic win in Croatia. We could go on – England are fourth in the Fifa rankings, the Czechs 50th – but there’s nothing to be gained in belabouring the point … and in any case football doesn’t always work like that, which is why we keep turning up and tuning in. Will England consolidate their position in Group A3 with a view to making next spring’s quarter-finals, or can the Czechs spring a surprise and keep their (admittedly faint) hopes alive? We find out from 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
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