England look to extend unbeaten World Cup Qualifiers run as they travel to the Estadi Nacional to take on Andorra

England will look to get back to winning ways and continue their unbeaten streak as they take on Andorra.

After six qualifying games ahead of next year’s World Cup in Qatar, it couldn’t have gone any smoother for Gareth Southgate’s men, which some may have expected. When the draw for Group I was made, England were the favourites to finish top and that certainly hasn’t changed after their convincing displays.

The Three Lions enter matchday seven having won five of their six fixtures and remain unbeaten having come through arguably their toughest test away to Poland last month unscathed. As a result, they are currently in pole position to claim automatic qualification, sitting four points above second-place Albania and five clear of Poland in third.

Finding the back of the net hasn’t been hard to come by either for the visitors, as they’ve managed to score 18 times while only conceding twice across the six games, making their goal difference largely superior to the rest of the group.

During previous qualifying campaigns, England haven’t always had the same level of resilience in defence that supporters have become accustomed to seeing this time around, but it appears Southgate’s side are reaping the rewards from a successful tournament at EURO 2020.

Last summer allowed the 51-year-old to not only establish his preferred starting 11 but pick them on a consistent basis which appears to have brought cohesion to the group, especially to the back four as this seems to be contributing to their recent run of form.

For Andorra, the situation doesn’t look quite as promising as they sit second from bottom, having lost five times with their only victory coming against San Marino. Koldo Alvarez’s team have struggled with a familiar theme at the top of the pitch, as their four goals during qualifying thus far, has proved problematic in picking up points on a consistent basis.

The hosts will also be without three key players when England visit at the weekend with Albert Alavedra, Marcio Vieira and Moises San Nicolas missing out due to an accumulation of yellow cards. The trio have been a mainstay within the Andorra system throughout qualifying and all started their last match against Hungary in which they narrowly lost 2-1.

Similarly, for England, they are expected to make a number of changes with their position in the group and the tough artificial pitch being key components in the decision. They are already missing multiple players through injuries such as Harry Maguire, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jude Bellingham, Reece James and Kalvin Phillips, therefore Southgate will be hoping to come away without adding to the problem.

Aaron Ramsdale, who has endured a fine start to life at Arsenal, could be in line for his first appearance at international level while Fikayo Tomori could also feature for the first time since November 2019 following an impressive start to the season in Italy with AC Milan.

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