England and France will take on each other in the quarterfinal of the FIFA World Cup on Sunday at the Al Bayt stadium in Qatar.
Gareth Southgate England boss will make one of the biggest selection decisions of his tenure for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final tie with France.
The big call the Three Lions simply cannot afford to get wrong is whether to go with a four- or five-man defence against Kylian Mbappe and the defending champions.
While France have not quite been as dynamic as they were four years ago in Russia, the Paris Saint-Germain striker is stepping up on the biggest stage once again to lead the World Cup scoring charts.
Southgate may counter Mbappe’s threat by bringing back Kieran Trippier for a 5-2-3 formation, seen regularly at England’s recent tournament runs.
That would mean shifting Kyle Walker inside to man-mark the Frenchman.
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Who would drop out in such a scenario is no easy decision given Jordan Henderson has
been largely impressive since coming off the bench against the USA.
Declan Rice is expected to play despite missing training in the week, due to illness.
The front three is not expected to change from the 3-0 beating of Senegal, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka holding onto their places to keep
both Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish available as Southgate’s go-to options off the bench.
Meanwhile, Raheem Sterling is now set to be available, with the Chelsea forward arriving
back in camp on Friday having earlier in the week returned home to check on the welfare of his family following a burglary at his home.
A place on the bench, at most, seems likely at this stage.
England have no suspensions or injury worries hanging over them ahead of the quarter-final, with Callum Wilson also back involved after a knock.
France: Mbappe will fit to play after he trained as per usual on Wednesday night, having sat out the team session the day before.
Les Bleus appear to have settled on Jules Kounde as their first-choice right-back after moving over from the centre with Raphael Varane’s return from injury.
Theo Hernandez will continue to deputise for injured brother Lucas on the left.
Karim Benzema, Christopher Nkunku, N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba are all missing from the World Cup due to injury.
Olivier Giroud has thrived up front in the Ballon d’Or winner’s absence, overtaking Thierry Henry as his country’s all-time leading scorer.
Didier Deschamps also has a settled midfield pairing in Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot, with his reserves failing to make their case when a much-changed side lost to Tunisia to close out the group stage.
England Possible Lineup:
Pickford;
Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw;
Henderson, Bellingham, Rice;
Saka, Kane, Foden.
France Possible Lineup:
Lloris;
Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, Hernandez;
Tchouameni, Rabiot;
Dembele;
Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe.
