West Ham, Tottenham and Crystal Palace fringe trio must start for England vs Albania
Thomas Tuchel could hand a number of fringe England players a chance to play their way into his World Cup plans against Albania this weekend.
England have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup after a 5-0 rout of Latvia in October sealed their passage into the finals.
Thomas Tuchel has overlooked a few unfortunate English stars in his quest to qualify, and seems content with the core group of players he has often named in his squads in his 11 months in charge so far.
They beat Serbia 2-0 on Thursday (13 November), and Albania are England’s final opponents of the qualifying stage as they face off in Tirana on Sunday (16 November) evening.
There is nothing riding on the game for either side with the hosts cemented in second place, and Football Insider have picked out a trio of Three Lions stars who deserve to start and properly prove themselves to the boss.
Djed Spence
Reece James has been Tuchel’s go-to man at right-back since he was appointed, but Djed Spence earned his first England cap earlier this year and is clearly in Tuchel’s World Cup plans.
The Tottenham star’s versatility serves him well from an international standpoint, and he deserves to get the nod on either the right or left side of defence on Sunday.
There is pretty limited competition on either flank at this current moment in time due to injuries and lack of form for certain players, so a fine showing against a tough opponent could really cement Spence as a regular for England going forward.
Jarrod Bowen
England’s attack is made up of many superstars, which means a quality, yet understated, figure like Jarrod Bowen can often go unnoticed and is arguably underrated by many.
Bowen has been in the Three Lions set-up for over three years now, but has often been limited to substitute appearances and has only made six starts for his country, with just one of those coming since Euro 2024.
Bukayo Saka is likely to be rested for a game with nothing riding on it, and the fact Bowen did not even get a minute of game-time against Serbia on Thursday means he deserves a start here to show what he can do.
Adam Wharton
A lot has been made of Adam Wharton‘s lack of chances for England so far, but Tuchel has called him up for the first time in this round of fixtures after a strong start to the new season.
Wharton is wanted by some of the world’s biggest clubs for his standout Crystal Palace performances, and it is about time that he really made a play to be a regular in the Three Lions’ senior squad.
This game feels like the perfect opportunity for Tuchel to hand him a first competitive start for his country in place of either Elliot Anderson or Declan Rice, especially considering the fight for places in the middle of the park.
Anderson has been mooted to start in the USA after a breakout campaign for England, and so the onus is certainly on Wharton, who was given his international debut a year before the Nottingham Forest man, to prove that he can actually challenge that notion heading into the tournament.