Republic of Ireland step-in to face England at Wembley in International Friendly

England will host the Republic of Ireland in an international friendly which will be the warm-up for their UEFA Nations match up against Belgium at the weekend.

England will be looking at giving some of their back-up players an opportunity to shine at Wembley against an Ireland team that will be looking at recording their first victory against the Three Lions since 1988.

England suffered their first defeat in 2020 last time out when they came off on the wrong side of a 1-0 scoreline against Denmark.

The result casts a grey cloud over Gareth Southgate and his men, especially after coming from behind to beat Belgium just a few days before.

The Denmark result condemned England to third place in their UEFA Nations League group and had both pundits, the media and fans questioning Southgate and his squad selection.

Southgate will undoubtedly have the weekends fixture against Belgium in his mind and that will ultimately decide how many minutes some of his most important players will get in this one.

Ireland are yet to register a win in 2020 and are winless in their last six outings across all competitions. Stephen Kenny took over from Mick McCarthy back in April for Ireland, but he is yet to record a single win at the helm and is still yet to see his side produce a single goal since he took charge.

Ireland are filling in for New Zealand in this fixture (due to the Coronavirus) and they will be looking at possibly taking advantage against an England side that may be looking ahead to their future fixtures and not concentrating on the task at hand.

Team news

England were dealt an injury blow this week when Joe Gomez had to be withdrawn from the squad after sustaining a knee injury in training.

His Liverpool teammate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, is also out for England after picking up a calf injury when facing Manchester City at the weekend.

Marcus Rashford is highly unlikely to feature in this one due to his ongoing shoulder injury. James Ward-Prowse is also out after being withdrawn from the England squad early this week due to a tight hamstring.

Suspensions for both Harry Maguire & Reece James in the UEFA Nations League games means they will both probably start and feature heavily in this one. Nick Pope is also expected to start between the sticks for the Three Lions.

Ireland were struck by COVID-19 on Wednesday as forward Callum Robinson tested positive and so that rules him out of this fixture.

Injuries for both Enda Stevens & Aaron Connolly means that Nottingham Forest defender Cyrus Christie has been called up for Ireland as a replacement. Ireland will also be starting life without David McGoldrick who retired from international football last month.

Head-to-head

Ireland last won an away game against England on English soil in 1949. The last five meetings between both of these sides have ended in a draw. Four of the last five meetings ended 1-1. The last time these two met was way back in 2015 on that day it ended 0-0.

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