Two months on from their last meeting in Dublin, the two nations face each other again, at Wembley, for the first time since 2020.
By Ian King
This one has a bit of history
Well, you could say that. On the 21st September 1949, Ireland beat England 2-0 at Goodison Park to become the first foreign team to do so away from home. And they had been a thorn in their side from Euro ‘88 on, when they beat them 1-0 in Stuttgart, and two years later, when they held them to a 1-1 draw in Cagliari during the 1990 World Cup. England didn’t beat Ireland at all between March 1985 and November 2020, although Ireland didn’t beat them either; they played out five draws during this time.
Form
Ireland are, by pretty common assent, not in a great shape at the moment, but they did at least beat Finland 1-0 on Thursday night to ensure that they won’t finish bottom of their Nations League group. England were much improved upon their shambolic home defeat against Greece in their return match in Athens, running out comfortable winners, despite doing without a huge number of withdrawals (9 at the last count). A win against Ireland will promote them back into the top tier of seeds and may make future qualifications a smoother passage, so England have an incentive to win.
Key players
It’s now been two years since Evan Ferguson made his Ireland debut. He missed five months with injury earlier this year, but the Brighton forward has now scored four in seventeen games and he bagged the crucial winning goal against Finland.
He wasn’t the only young player to impress in this match, either. The Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher saved a penalty kick with the score at 0-0, another sign of a country emerging from recent football doldrums.
The England captain Harry Kane was critical of players who withdrew from this round of fixtures, only to find himself on the bench on Thursday night. The key question that Lee Carsley has to answer in his last game in charge of the team is whether he starts Ollie Watkins, who started against Ireland and scored the opening goal after just seven minutes, or the record goal scoring captain.
Team News
For Ireland, Shane Duff, of Norwich City and Seamus Coleman, of Everton both withdrew from injury last week alongside former Celtic forward Adam Idahm, while England are missing Aaron Ramsdale, Levi Colwill, John Stones, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka, all injured.
Prediction
Ireland have improved since earlier this year, and their historical record against England demonstrates that they have the potential to put one over on their rivals. But England’s comfortable win in Athens on Thursday night indicated that their previous home defeat was a blip rather than a sign of anything longer-term. With Lee Carsley’s team needing a win to top the group, there is enough of an incentive there for the home team to be able to win this match, but Ireland always have an extra incentive to go for it against the Three Lions, so it might not be completely straightforward.
Prediction: England 2–0 Ireland
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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