Albania vs England predictions: Bellingham must be patient on return as Tuchel seeks perfection
England had already qualified for the 2026 World Cup finals when they kicked off against Serbia at Wembley on Thursday night.
Predictably, it wasn’t the most exciting watch with the ultimate objective achieved but the 2-0 victory confirmed what a fine job Thomas Tuchel’s men have done in qualifying.
The Three Lions have absolutely breezed it, winning seven out of seven, scoring 20 times in the process and not conceding a single goal.
Harder tasks lie ahead and, in terms of the group, Albania away could be a decent test.
While Serbia have flopped, Albania have booked a play-off spot after scoring a 1-0 away win in Andorra on Thursday.
That made it 14 points from their seven games, the only defeat coming against England at Wembley in March when they emerged with a fair amount of credit in a 2-0 loss.
How to watch Albania v England
Albania v England kicks off at 17.00 GMT on Sunday, November 16 in Tirana.
The game will be shown live on ITVX, ITV1, STV & UTV, with coverage starting from 4pm.
BBC Radio 5 Live will provide full match commentary.
Albania team news
It was a historic night for Albania in Andorra as they got the win (1-0) that secured their place in the World Cup play-offs for the first time.
Torino midfielder Kristjan Asllani scored the decisive goal in the 68th minute.
Albania coach Sylvinho – the first ever Brazilian to sign for Arsenal (1999) – may decide to reward his men by picking the same starting XI.
That includes Burnley’s Armando Broja, who was withdrawn after the hour mark in Andorra.
Albania expected line-up
(4-3-3) Strakosha; Hysaj, Ajeti, Djimsiti, Mitaj; Asllani, Shehu, Laci; Broja, Hoxha, Manaj.
England team news
Tuchel will surely use this game to shuffle his pack a little.
That could mean starts for Jude Bellingham and Eberechi Eze in a revamped ‘3’ behind Harry Kane. Both came on against Serbia, with Eze getting the second goal.
Phil Foden made an impact off the bench as a ‘false’ nine and Tuchel may try that experiment again, bringing on the Manchester City man in place of Kane later in the game.
Further back, Adam Wharton may be given the chance to partner Declan Rice, with Elliot Anderson standing aside.
In defence, Tuchel will likely look for continuity although Djed Spence may take over from Reece James at right-back.
England expected line-up
(4-2-3-1) Pickford; Spence, Konsa, Stones, Burn; Wharton, Rice; Eze, Bellingham, Saka; Kane.
Albania vs England stats
– Albania have lost all seven of their matches against England – all in World Cup qualifiers – conceding at least twice in every defeat and scoring just once, an Altin Rraklli goal in a 3-1 loss in March 2001.
– Albania have not conceded a goal in a home qualifier for a major tournament (EURO/World Cup) for eight matches, since a 1-0 defeat to Poland in October 2021. They have faced 70 shots (17 on target) and an xG of 4.61 without conceding in these eight games.
– England have won their last six away matches in all competitions, their best run since between May 1970 and December 1971 (6).
– England have kept a clean sheet in each of their last nine competitive internationals, facing just nine shots on target in that run – five of which were against Greece in the first of those nine games last November.
– England have won their last two away matches 5-0, beating Serbia in September and Latvia in October. They last hit 5+ goals in three away games in a row between May 1937 and May 1938.
– Harry Kane has been directly involved in seven goals in three appearances against Albania (5 goals, 2 assists).
Only against Southampton and Brighton (5) has Man Utd’s Bryan Mbeumo scored
Albania v England vs predictions
Perhaps in the past, England could have been pencilled in for an easy win in a game like this.
But Albania have clearly made great strides and victory over Andorra was their sixth win in a row. And they did it by keeping their fourth clean sheet in five matches.
Only losing 2-0 at Wembley was another nod to their defensive discipline so England may have to be patient.
There’s an argument that England won’t bust a gut as they don’t have to win but there are two things against that: the desire to complete a clean sweep of wins in Group K and an urge to impress Tuchel who bases his selections on performances not reputations.
One area where England do have a serious advantage is their substitutes so perhaps the Draw-England HT/FT at 3/1 could be the way to go.
The Three Lions will have plenty of game-changers on the bench and one of them could make the difference in the second half.
