England vs Malta. FIFA World Cup European Qualifying Group F.
Wembley Stadium.
Saturday 8 October 2016 15:10, UK
Gareth Southgate starts the first of his initial four-game reign as England manager with the visit of Malta on Saturday.
England kicked off their World Cup Group F qualifying campaign with a late 1-0 win over Slovakia in Trnava, which proved to be Sam Allardyce's first and last match as England boss, following an undercover report by The Telegraph.
England have won their last 13 qualifying matches for tournaments and are unbeaten in their last 30 qualifiers while Malta, who are ranked 176th in the world, have lost their last five World Cup qualifiers, shipping 19 goals.
Speaking about his new role, Southgate said: "I think the role is an honour. It's important we show leadership, step up and put things in place to give the team the best chance of a winning.
"I'm a proud and patriotic Englishman. In my view, it's a wonderful job to have for any period of time.
"It's huge for my family and everybody that's helped me in my career from a young player. The workings of the last week have been almost identical to running the under-21s.
"In such a short period of time to turn around the opposition planning, our own arrangements in such a short space of time. If I was comparing to when I took over at Middlesbrough, this has been far far calmer."
Team news
Adam Lallana has been ruled out for up to two weeks with a groin strain and Raheem Sterling is out with a strained a calf muscle.
Andros Townsend was called up to replace the Manchester City winger while Glen Johnson was in line to make his first appearance for England since 2014 but was forced to withdraw with injury.
Phil Jagielka is also missing after picking up a thigh strain in training.
Despite missing the last three games for Manchester United, Southgate says Wayne Rooney will remain as captain but didn't confirm what position he'll be played in. Marcus Rashford, Michael Keane and Jesse Lingard all could feature in Southgate's starting eleven.
Stats
England have won all three previous international encounters against Malta, scoring eight and conceding one.
Rooney has scored 14 and assisted two in his last 15 WC/Euro qualifying appearances.
Malta have won only one of their last 21 matches (D4 L16) and none of the last 11.
England have won 10 of their last 11 matches at Wembley (L1), scoring 25 and conceding three goals in the process.
England have fired in a total of 67 shots (inc. blocks) in their last three internationals, netting only twice in the process (3% shot conversion rate).
Jamie Vardy has scored four international goals in 2016, twice as many as any other England player.
Charlie's prediction
Well this is a nice game for Gareth Southgate to start with, especially after my team softened [Malta] up!
The big question is what he does and how many changes he makes. Will he play Rooney? Or will he want to play Dele Alli behind Daniel Sturridge or Vardy?
If I'm having a bet on this game I'd be looking at England to score at least five goals and Theo Walcott definitely to get in on the act.
Charlie predicts: 6-0 and Walcott to score first (28/1 with Sky Bet)
