England's inaugural match of 2022 takes place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening, as Switzerland pay a visit to the capital for a friendly encounter.
Both sides secured their place at the Qatar World Cup via first-placed finishes in their groups, with preparations for the finals beginning now.
Match preview
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Despite the threat of Poland and Albania proving to be quite the surprise package in World Cup 2022 Qualifying, England's spot at the showpiece event was never in any real doubt, with the Three Lions taking 26 points from 30 on offer to book their plane tickets.
Scoring an astonishing 15 goals and conceding zero in their final two clashes with Albania and whipping boys San Marino capped off a near-faultless qualification bid from the Euro 2020 finalists, as Gareth Southgate's side now seek to go one better at the imminent - yet highly controversial - World Cup.
Southgate's preparations for March's friendlies have already been disrupted by injury after injury, and a meeting with Ivory Coast three days later is hardly a walk in the park, but confidence ought to be high at the fortress that is Wembley.
Since the Euros, England have collected five wins from a possible seven in World Cup Qualifying - keeping a clean sheet in each of those victories and only shipping a total of two goals in their pair of draws with Poland and Hungary - and it is now 13 unbeaten for the Three Lions at Wembley across all competitions.
Furthermore, each one of England's last eight friendly matches has ended in victory, and not since June 2018 have Southgate's side conceded a goal in a Wembley friendly, although Switzerland will certainly have a thing or two to say about that.
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Also navigating their World Cup 2022 Qualifying group without a single defeat, Switzerland's start under Murat Yakin has gone swimmingly for the former international, who has instilled quite the sense of defensive discipline into his side since August.
Switzerland saw off the threat of reigning continental champions Italy to finish atop the rankings in Group C and force the Euro 2020 winners to settle for a spot in the playoffs, with a 4-0 win over Bulgaria in November capping off a strong qualification performance.
Managing to hold Italy to a pair of 0-0 and 1-1 stalemates typified the resilience of this Swiss side, with the goal they conceded in the latter draw to Giovanni Di Lorenzo representing the only time that their defence has been breached in their last seven matches.
Friendly wins away from home have been hard to come by for the world's 14th-ranked nation, though, with the visitors winless in their last three exhibition matches on rival turf and only claiming two victories from their last 10 such matches.
That miserable run includes a 1-0 defeat to England in September 2018 courtesy of Marcus Rashford's strike - their fourth successive loss against the Three Lions - and not since 1981 have the Rossocrociati managed to triumph against England in any tournament.
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Team News
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England boss Southgate has already lost Tammy Abraham, Aaron Ramsdale, Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold to injury ahead of Saturday's game, while Sam Johnstone is another late withdrawal due to illness and Bukayo Saka has pulled out of the squad with COVID-19.
With a lack of out-and-out right-backs in the ranks - somewhat of a surprise given England's track record in that position - the uncapped Kyle Walker-Peters could be in line for his Three Lions debut in a back four this weekend.
Crystal Palace duo Marc Guehi and Tyrick Mitchell will also be out to earn their first minutes for the senior team, as Harry Kane seeks to move level with or surpass second-placed Bobby Charlton in the Three Lions' scoring charts, with the skipper boasting 48 strikes compared to Charlton's 49.
Southgate has also revealed that Emile Smith Rowe is a doubt for the contest, but the Arsenal man would have been unlikely to start in any case.
Switzerland hardly have all of their first-choice XI available either, as veteran goalkeeper Yann Sommer and fellow shot-stopper Philipp Kohn are both unavailable due to injury, so Borussia Dortmund's Gregor Kobel could get the nod at Wembley.
Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria and 24-goal striker Haris Seferovic also miss out as they continue their spells in the treatment room, with Mario Gavranovic preparing to shoulder the goalscoring burden here. Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar has also pulled out with an adductor issue.
Captain Granit Xhaka needs just two more caps to reach the 100-mark for his country, and a man who has already reached that milestone in Xherdan Shaqiri should occupy the number 10 role on his return to English turf.
England possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Walker-Peters, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Rice, Bellingham; Sterling, Mount, Foden; Kane
Switzerland possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Mbabu, Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez; Xhaka, Freuler; Okafor, Shaqiri, Vargas; Gavranovic
We say: England 2-0 Switzerland
A clash between two sides who give very little away in the defensive third is unlikely to produce the goal-fest that many neutrals may hope for, but the Three Lions' record against their upcoming opponents speaks for itself.
There may be very little to separate the two teams on paper, but England's mixture of experienced and youthful attacking options - a lot of whom have produced the goods for their clubs in recent weeks - should have no problem in breaching this Swiss backline en route to a confidence-boosting win.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
