England travel to Greece for a must-win clash in the Nations League tonight. Following a defeat at Wembley to the same opponents the Three Lions must triumph in Athens if they hope to automatically qualify for promotion.
Interim boss Lee Carsley takes charge of the national side for his final camp and will be hoping for a positive end to his time in charge of the senior side.
Carsley has already handed out a number of debuts during his time in charge and could yet give an opportunity to six uncapped members of the squad including Curtis Jones, Lewis Hall and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
With quite a few players including Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka pulling out due to injury expect a somewhat unfamiliar looking line-up for tonight’s game with the defence and midfield in particular getting a shake up.
Follow all the action from the Nations League with our live blog below as England take on Greece:
Greece 0-1 England
“Curtis Jones has had an impressive first half-hour of international football, looking assured at the base of the midfield.
“If Jones had not got injured, he probably would have been capped by Gareth Southgate and gone to Euro 2024. But he has been building on his fine form for Liverpool.
“Elsewhere, I can’t help feeling someone will be sent off today. All of which may determine the outcome.”
Greece 0-1 England
39 mins: Greece’s captain Tasos Bakasetas shoots from outside the box and draws another save out of Jordan Pickford. The England goalkeeper won’t be best pleased at the amount of action he’s seeing.
Greece 0-1 England
36 mins: Oh!
Jude Bellingham darts in behind and gets fed the ball. He carries it into the penalty area and looks for Ollie Watkins but the pass isn’t on.
It seems like a certain goal but Konstantinos Koulierakis sprints back and pokes the ball away from Bellingham before he can shoot!
Greece 0-1 England
33 mins: Tasos Bakasetas swings in a corner kick for Greece. Pickford comes out again and punches the ball away. Greece are in the ascendancy now and England need to weather this storm.
It’s been a solid response since the hosts went behind.
Greece 0-1 England
30 mins: What a save!
This is a fine move from Greece. Kostas Tsimikas is played into space on the left and drives at Kyle Walker. He slips a pass into the feet of Vangelis Pavlidis who backheels it to Tsimikas who continues his run into the box.
Tsimikas shoots and Jordan Pickford sticks out a strong right hand to turn the ball behind.
Greece 0-1 England
27 mins: The Greek crowd are starting to get animated. The hosts are seeing more possession and manage to feed the ball to Lazaros Rota as he gets forward on the right.
Rota dances inside from the wing and then shoots. It’s not a good shot and he pulls it wide of the target.
From the goal kick Jordan Pickford takes his time getting the ball back in play and is booked for time wasting. There’s only been 27 minutes played!
Greece 0-1 England
24 mins: Giorgos Masouras drifts out wide on the right wing and waits for the ball to come over the top. It does and the pass makes Rico Lewis hesitant.
He decides to let the ball run through and then holds his ground long enough to turn the ball out for a throw in.
Greece 0-1 England
21 mins: Greece have conceded their first goal at home since Youssouf Fofana scored against them for France in November 2023. It’s almost a year since they’ve trailed at home.
England want to increase their lead and banish the memories of that defeat at Wembley last month.
Greece 0-1 England
18 mins: Gordon really fancies himself against Rota. He looks to go around the outside this time but just overruns the ball as Rota holds his own.
England threw men into the box and seem very hungry for goals tonight. A good start for the visitors.
Greece 0-1 England
“Ollie Watkins scored with his first touch of the ball, which offered Lee Carsley some immediate vindication after benching Harry Kane, even if it was the type of goal Kane might also have scored.
“It isn’t a particularly hostile atmosphere in Athens but Conor Gallagher’s needless yellow card, for kicking the ball away, brought the volume and means two of England’s midfield trio are already booked.”