England’s second game of 2026 World Cup qualifying takes place on Monday

England’s second game of 2026 World Cup qualifying takes place on Monday night as they face off against Latvia for the very first time.

The Thomas Tuchel era started off with an impressively controlled 2-0 victory over Albania on Friday night, although the German noted that there’s plenty more to come from his side post-match. While the Three Lions didn’t exactly thrill against a deep-lying defence, they performed with the synergy and cohesiveness of a club side.

The signs were doubtlessly positive, and Tuchel’s side are bound to enjoy themselves on Monday night.

Latvia entered World Cup qualifying as the 140th-ranked nation in the world, sitting in between Burundi and the Dominican Republic, but their campaign started with a 1-0 win away at Andorra (171st-ranked).

The visitors are led by former Italy U21 coach Paolo Nicolato, and they’ll relish the occasion no matter the scoreline.

Tuchel singled out England’s two starting wingers for criticism on Friday night, but the new England boss has been hamstrung by the hip injury Anthony Gordon suffered late on against Albania. With Gordon withdrawing from the squad, Marcus Rashford could retain his place down the left, but there’s likely to be a change on the opposite flank.

Jarrod Bowen is in contention to start in place of Phil Foden.

There should be more changes from Friday night’s XI with Tuchel keen to see as much of his squad as possible. Dean Henderson, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill and Dominic Solanke are among those who didn’t feature on Tuchel’s debut but should either start or appear off the bench against Latvia.

England predicted lineup vs Latvia (4-2-3-1): Henderson; James, Guehi, Colwill, Lewis-Skelly; Jones, Rice; Bowen, Bellingham, Rashford; Kane.