England play Malta away in a crucial World Cup Qualifier

England and Malta are set to play each other at Attard in a World Cup Qualifier on Friday night. England are the favorites in this one and will look for three points.

Kick-off : 8:45 PM (Local)

Venue : Ta’ Qali National Stadium, Attard

The Three Lions will look to take another stride towards booking their place at next summers World Cup by seeing of the minnows on Friday night.

Their main rivals in Group F, Slovakia and Slovenia, will play each other on the same time. Southgate’s men will look to get ahead of at least one of them.

This match will also mark the start of the post-Wayne Rooney era for England, as their all time top goalscorer has retired from international football.

Gareth Southgate have some work to do to figure out who the core players in this new team are. Only a handful of players like Harry Kane and Dele Alli are virtually guaranteed a starting spot when available.

Their last game was a friendly away at France which they lost. Their are lessons to be learned for Southgate’s team.

Team news and possible line-ups

Alfred Effiong will not be available for Malta against England due to suspension. Jean Paul Farrugia though will play on Friday night after returning from suspension.

As for England, Jordan Pickford has dropped out of the squad to muscle problem. But Southgate will be tempted to play Jack Butland as due to Joe Hart’s poor form.

Adam Lallana was not selected due to injury. While Harry Maguire and Nathaniel Chalobah will be hoping for their senior debuts.

Harry Kane will likely start for the Three Lions.

Malta XI : Hogg, A. Muscat, S. Borg, Agius, Z. Muscat, Failla, Gambin, R. Fenech, Pisani, Farrugia, Schembri.

England XI : Butland, Walker, Stones, Cahill, Bertrand, Henderson, Dier, Rashford, Dele, Sterling, Kane.

Prediction

I expect England to win comprehensively against Malta. I think it will be a 4-0 scoreline for them.