Back to basics for England

Last updated : 12 October 2024 By Three Lions

Following a brusing few days, England interim manager Lee Carsley is set to roll back the tactical experiments for Sunday's Nations League match in Finland.

The Helsinki trip comes hard on the heels of a damaging home defeat at the hands of Greece, both for England's chances of topping their group and for Carsley's prospects of succeeding Gareth Southgate on a permanent basis, should he still retain that ambition.

With captain Harry Kane returning to training, Thursday night's gamble on not playing a recognised striker is something that Carsley has said he 'probably won't try again', although he remains optimistic that Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer can be accomodated in the same side.

Bukayo Saka has not travelled after sustaining a leg injury against Greece but Jack Grealish is likely to be available.

Finland were comfortably beaten at Wembey last month and suffered a third consecutive defeat when losing an early lead against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday.

Away from the senior squad, England U21s kept alive hopes of automatic qualification for next summer's European Championships with a dramatic late win against Ukraine on Friday evening, James McAtee scoring twice in the final few minutes of the game against the group leaders.