England is in action against Albania this Friday evening, taking their first step towards qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
It marks the first match under new England boss Thomas Tuchel who will lead the Three Lions out at Wembley for his first fixture.
Tuchel is up against some history – if he wins tonight he joins the club alongside the nation’s last 10 permanent managers, all of who won their first match in charge of England.
England vs Albania on TV
Is England vs Albania on TV? Yes! You can watch England vs Albania on ITV or stream it on ITVX
The route to the World Cup 2026 – Thomas Tuchel era begins
England finished their latest UEFA Nations League campaign on a high, having secured automatic promotion back to League A.
Fixtures for the qualifiers take place over five international windows between now and November with only the top team from each of 12 groups qualifying automatically for the finals – second-placed sides must participate in the playoffs.
England will be hoping to seize control of Group K this month, with Albania on Friday and Lativa three days later – both at Wembley.
Group K also features Serbia and Andorra.
England will go into the match with a record 31 qualifiers for FIFA’s top tournament unbeaten – winning 23 times in the process, meaning they have the longest ongoing run of any European nation.
England has won all six of their previous meetings with Albania, the last time the two teams met, England won 5-0 in the Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
For Albania, the Nations League matches saw them relegated to Group C after a defeat to Ukraine.
But they’ll be looking to start fresh and seek a long-overdue appearance at the global finals. They have reached two of the last three Euros, so aiming for one of the two top spots in the group will be their focus.
Whilst the odds will be stacked against them on Friday, if they don’t take points off England, Sunday’s game against Andorra will be a must-win.
England Team News
Thomas Tuchel’s first England team has come with a handful of surprises, most notably the inclusion of Jordan Henderson and Dan Burn.
The initial team sheet has been changed a few times following Cole Palmer’s withdrawal and Morgan Gibbs-White being called up as his replacement.
Albania Team News
Meanwhile, Albania’s team will have seven Italy-based players in their 26-man squad.
Elseid Hysahj and Mario Mitaj are out with injuries whilst first-choice strikes Armando Broja and Rey Manaj return to the starting lineup after being out in November.
England possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Walker, Guehi, Colwill, Lewis-Skelly; Henderson, Rice; Foden, Bellingham, Rashford; Kane
Albania possible starting lineup:
Strakosha; Balliu, Ismajli, Djimsiti, Aliji; Asllani, Ramadani; Asani, Bajrami, Muci; Manaj
England vs Albania Predictions
WTX Sports – England 2-0 Albania
On home soil, with a wealth of talent and a world-class manager, England should win this match. Nerves may kick in so we aren’t expecting goals galore but given their experience we’d expect them to find their feet in these opening games whilst still securing the wins.
90 MINS – England 2-0 Albania
Albania will be no pushovers at Wembley but should be overwhelmed by an experienced and impressive England side spurred on by their new coach. They will be aiming to keep the score down and pose a counter-attacking threat.
Hopes of a sizeable and emphatic win on Tuchel’s bow may be ambitious given he’s had very little time to work with his new players and has never been a coach known for his expressive approach.
A comfortable win, clean sheet and evidence of fresh ideas should be enough to please the home supporters on Friday night.
GOAL – England 3-0 Albania
Only 50% of England’s competitive meetings with Albania have featured three or more goals. Although they thrashed Albania 5-0 at Wembley in November 2021, we are reluctant to back a goal fest here.
That’s largely due to the changes Thomas Tuchel is making to the starting XI, which could affect the on-field chemistry at times. Nevertheless, we still expect them to secure a victory.
Covering the 1-0, 2-0 and 3-0 winning scorelines accounts for the possibility that Albania could make life harder for England than expected. It also reinforces the view that Albania will fail to test Jordan Pickford at the other end.