Slovakia’s team has not yet been confirmed by Uefa, but it looks very much like it will be this: Dubravka; Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan; Lobotka, Skriniar; Weiss, Hamsik, Mak; Nemec.
The teams! Well, one of them anyway!
As widely predicted, Marcus Rashford and Eric Dier are in the starting XI, which reads as follows: Hart, Walker, Bertrand, Cahill, Jones, Henderson, Dier, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alli, Rashford, Kane.
Hello world!
So, this is big. Honest, it really is. Victory tonight won’t quite guarantee England’s presence in Russia next summer, but it would leave them on the precipice. On the very verge. Win by a margin of, say, three goals and Gareth Southgate’s side will pretty much be there but for some mathematics. Lose and they’ll be dumped into second place, and Southgate will instantly become the latest Steve McClarenesque flop (disappointingly there is no rain forecast tonight, so there’ll be no easy brolly-based headlines). Plus after toiling for so long against Malta this seems like a key moment not just in the chase for qualification, but in the battle to retain the support of a fanbase inured to, and already expecting at some miserable point now or in the near future, failure. Excited? You should be.
Simon will be along shortly. Here’s Daniel Taylor’s preview:
Gareth Southgate has addressed the dissatisfaction which surfaced among England fans during Friday’s win over Malta and described the suggestion his players are not proud to play for their country as “outrageous”.
The national team can take a significant step towards qualifying for next summer’s World Cup by beating Slovakia at Wembley on Monday, with 70,000 tickets sold for the meeting between the teams first and second in Group F.
Yet events in Ta’ Qali on Friday, when sections of England’s support made clear their disgust at the side’s sluggish performance and many left well before the final whistle, have prompted talk of a disconnect between fans and players given the side’s toils in recent years.
Harry Kane rejected the notion some players were indifferent to playing for their country, with Southgate echoing his striker’s sentiments.
“The notion the players aren’t proud to play is outrageous really,” the manager said. “They’re unbelievably proud to play for England. Yes, they might not play as well as they’d like to sometimes, not converting all their chances, but there’s no one not giving their 100%.