England continue their preparations for the 2022 World Cup when Ivory Coast pay a visit to Wembley for Tuesday's international friendly battle.
The Three Lions ran out 2-1 winners over Switzerland in the capital on Saturday night, while their visitors lost by the same scoreline to reigning world champions France.
Match preview
© Reuters
Now only five goals away from becoming the greatest goalscorer his nation has ever seen, England captain Harry Kane moved one step closer to breaking Wayne Rooney's record with his 49th strike in England colours to propel his side to victory over Switzerland.
After Breel Embolo's header and another Luke Shaw left-footed thunderbolt at Wembley saw the two sides level pegging at 1-1, Kane produced his trademark penalty past Jonas Omlin in the 78th minute after Steven Zuber's handball to further write his name in the history books.
The Tottenham Hotspur talisman moved level with Sir Bobby Charlton into second place in the England men's team's all-time top goalscoring list - as well as equalling top women's goalscorer Ellen White's 49 - and one would not put it past Kane to surpass Rooney's 53 before the World Cup rolls around in the winter.
Now boasting a three-game winning streak in all competitions, Gareth Southgate's side have one final friendly to contend with before the serious competition kicks off with the Nations League in June, and it is now 14 unbeaten at Wembley for the Three Lions in all competitions.
Furthermore, England have now found the back of the net in their last 13 matches and are seeking a 10th friendly win in a row on home soil, although the Ivory Coast certainly command respect following their resilient showing on French turf.
© Reuters
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta claimed that a "different" Nicolas Pepe had returned to London Colney following the Africa Cup of Nations, and the Gunners winger justified such comments with a slick opening goal when his side made the journey to the Stade de France.
However, Les Elephants could not hold on for a famous win against Didier Deschamps's men, as Olivier Giroud levelled only three minutes after Pepe's opener before Aurelien Tchouameni also headed home right at the death to hand Les Bleus the victory.
French national Patrice Beaumelle understandably took the positives from his side's showing against the world champions, with Ivory Coast now aiming to rebuild for the future after an early Africa Cup of Nations exit and failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
It is now just one win from their last five friendly encounters for Beaumelle's side, though, and they are winless in four exhibition matches away from home since beating Tunisia in October 2019, with that streak unlikely to end in the English capital.
Tuesday's friendly will mark the first-ever meeting between England and Ivory Coast in any competition, as Southgate's side aim to give the home crowd something else to cheer before domestic football takes centre stage once again.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- L
- W
- D
- L
- L
- W
- D
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
England were forced into a last-minute change on Saturday night, as Ben White was drafted into the defence to replace John Stones, who felt muscular tightness in the warm-up and has now returned to Manchester City.
Southgate has also affirmed that Emile Smith Rowe could come into contention for a place after missing Saturday's win, but the Arsenal man may not be risked from the off.
The Three Lions boss handed Tyrick Mitchell, Marc Guehi and Kyle Walker-Peters their first England caps at senior level on Saturday, while Conor Gallagher's full debut saw him claim the assist for Shaw's equaliser.
Southgate has insisted that changes will be made here as expected, with Harry Maguire, Declan Rice, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish all options for rotation.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast seemingly left the field against France with a clean bill of health, although Wilfried Singo, Hamed Traore and Christian Kouame all withdrew before the loss to Les Bleus.
Beaumelle named a strong XI for the trip to the Stade de France and is unlikely to consider many alterations for Tuesday, but Maxwel Cornet and Max Gradel could both provide fresh legs over Wilfried Zaha in attack.
Highly-rated Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Odilon Kossounou is also pushing to be involved over Eric Bailly, who left the field after 68 minutes on Friday night.
England possible starting lineup:
Pope; Walker-Peters, Mings, Maguire, Mitchell; Rice, Bellingham; Sterling, Mount, Grealish; Kane
Ivory Coast possible starting lineup:
Sangare; Aurier, Boly, Bailly, Konan; Akoukou, Seri, Kessie; Pepe, Haller, Zaha
We say: England 3-1 Ivory Coast
With three proven goalscorers in Pepe, Zaha and Ajax talisman Sebastien Haller leading the charge, Ivory Coast's chances of finding their way through a much-changed England side ought to be relatively high.
The odd consolation goal should be where the joy ends for Ivory Coast, though, with England very rarely giving much away at Wembley and possessing the options for change needed to make the net ripple several times themselves in what ought to be another strong victory.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a England win with a probability of 60.42%. A draw had a probability of 23.7% and a win for Ivory Coast had a probability of 15.86%.
The most likely scoreline for a England win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.68%) and 2-1 (9.28%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.96%), while for a Ivory Coast win it was 0-1 (6.48%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that England would win this match.
