Battle for top spot in the UEFA Nations League ensues as England travel to take on Belgium

England travel to Heverlee to take on the World Number One ranked team in Belgium. The Three Lions will be looking at emulating the result which saw them come from behind to reclaim the top spot in their UEFA Nations group.

England are coming off the back of a relatively comfortable and dominating victory over the Republic of Ireland. Goals from Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho & Dominic Calvert-Lewin will have boosted the morale in the Three Lions camp along with the clean sheet that came with the result.

Belgium are also coming into this off the back of a closely fought victory against Switzerland in a friendly mid-week. They were forced to come from behind and it was Michy Batshuayi who netted twice in the second half to guarantee victory for the Red Devils.

An unbeaten home record that stretches over four years for Belgium just shows how daunting this fixture could look on paper for England.

However, they can draw confidence from the fact that they were able to come from behind to defeat Belgium in the reverse fixture of this game just last month and that will undoubtedly be playing on the minds of the Belgian players if they take the lead.

If Belgium are to avenge that defeat, they will be looking at Batshuayi to get on the score sheet for them. He has netted 13 times in his last 13 international appearances and he would love to score against the country he plays his club football every week. He may have to give way to Romelu Lukaku in this one but will be a danger coming off the bench in the second half.

Team news

Eden Hazard will miss this fixture for Belgium due to testing positive for Coronavirus last week. He would have been likely to start for the Red Devils and will be a big miss for Belgium. Another player missing out due to Covid-19 is Thomas Kaminski who tested positive a few days ago.

Other absentees for Belgium are Alexis Saelemaekers, Leandro Trossard & Hendrik van Crombrugge who are all out with injuries.

Roberto Martinez will likely place Thibaut Courtois between the sticks, whilst Jason Denayer and Toby Alderweireld look to retain their places in the defence. Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku & Dries Martens will all be looking at making an impact in this one and all look set to start the match.

Conor Coady was ruled out for England on Thursday night as he is forced to head into quarantine after being in contact with somebody who has contracted Covid-19. Marcus Rashford is also definitely out for England as he attempts to recover from a shoulder injury.

Further injuries to the Liverpool duo of Joe Gomez & Trent Alexander-Arnold sees them both unavailable for selection in this one. Harry Maguire & Reece James are also both out with suspensions for England after picking up red cards in their defeat against Denmark last time out in this competition.

Gareth Southgate looks likely to keep backing Jordan Pickford in goal. Harry Kane & Raheem Sterling look set to start up top after being rested for the full 90 minutes in the mid-week friendly. The remaining place upfront could go to either Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount or even Calvert-Lewin. All are in with a shout after continually performing on the field for England.

With Coady being unavailable, we shall see who Southgate will call upon to fill in that void in defence. Tyrone Mings is fancied over Michael Keane due to the former possibly having a better game in their last outing against the Republic of Ireland.

Head-to-head

These two nations have met six times in competitive football. Both teams have won two of these meetings each, with the remaining meetings ending all square. Belgium are unbeaten in their last 27 matches on home soil. England won the reverse fixture at Wembley last month, coming back from behind to defeat Belgium 2-1.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt