England v Switzerland preview: Gareth Southgate's side aiming to avoid fourth straight defeat

England take on Switzerland in an international friendly at Leicester's King Power Stadium on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm.

Despite their impressive performance at this summer's World Cup, England go into Tuesday's game - the first-ever Kick It Out International - looking to avoid a fourth successive defeat for the first time in their history, following losses against Croatia, Belgium and Spain.

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However, England manager Gareth Southgate is not concerned about that record, as he looks to bounce back from Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Spain in their Nations League opener.

"Not many England sides have played a World Cup semi-final and third-placed play-off so these stats can be whatever you want them to be really," said Southgate.

"From our point of view, we don't want to be in the habit of losing matches but to play three teams of the quality we have in the last three matches is a very rare occurrence in international football so we have to focus on our performances, and improving as a team.

"We have got to keep focused on the things we can control."

What can Southgate change?

The England boss wants this to be the start of something but how can his team improve? A formation change could work...

Tuesday's visitors Switzerland, who lost in the last 16 of the World Cup to England's quarter-final opponents Sweden, head to Leicester having made a flying start to their Nations League campaign.

England will have to keep a close eye on Liverpool forward Xherdan Shaqiri, who starred with a goal and two assists in the Swiss' 6-0 thrashing of Iceland on Saturday.

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Team news

As many as nine changes are expected from the England side which started the defeat by Spain.

Harry Kane will be rested, according to Sky sources. It is also understood that Kane's Spurs team-mate Eric Dier will be handed the captain's armband.

Jack Butland, James Tarkowski, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Danny Welbeck all look set to start.

Dele Alli (muscle) and Luke Shaw (head) are unavailable after withdrawing from the squad with injuries. Marcus Rashford (hamstring) is a doubt.

Leicester duo Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray could make their England debuts at their home ground against the Swiss.

Both newcomers trained with their new team-mates at St George's Park on Monday, having won promotion from the U21s.

Albian Ajeti, who scored within six minutes of coming on as a substitute against Iceland, could start for Switzerland ahead of Breel Embolo.

Opta stats

• This will be the 25th meeting between these two teams with England winning 16 and losing just three (D5).
• Switzerland have won just one of their last 21 games against England (W1 D5 L15), beating the Three Lions 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier in May 1981.
• England have found the back of the net in 22 of their 24 previous matches against Switzerland, drawing a blank in May 1947 (0-1) and September 1977 (0-0).
• The Three Lions are undefeated in 10 games played against Switzerland in England (inc. neutral), winning six and drawing four.
• This match will be just the second time Leicester has hosted an England international having only previously done so at the stadium in June 2003 when Sven-Goran Eriksson's men beat Serbia and Montenegro 2-1 in a friendly.
• England have lost just one of their last 19 home internationals played at venues other than Wembley (W15 D3 L1), a 0-1 friendly defeat to Spain in February 2007 at Old Trafford.

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• It took second-half substitute Harry Kane just 10 minutes to score England's opener against Switzerland when the sides last met in a Euro 2016 Qualifier back in September 2015 in a game that also saw Wayne Rooney score his 50th England goal to overtake Sir Bobby Charlton as England's all-time leading goal scorer.
• England's Harry Kane has failed to score in each of his last four Internationals having scored in nine of his previous 10 prior to this run (14 goals in total) - only once has the England striker gone longer without finding the back of the net for his country (six games between June and September 2016).
• Eight of England's last 13 goals have been scored by Tottenham players (Kane 6, Alli and Trippier).

Charlie's prediction

I was disappointed with England on Saturday, while Switzerland beat Iceland 6-0. Gareth Southgate will probably change it a little bit, Marcus Rashford should stay in the team and he might give Harry Kane a rest. I do expect England, at home, to force the issue a bit. I do expect they will be good enough to win this, and I think Rashford will continue scoring.

Charlie predicts: England to win 2-1 (17/2 with Sky Bet)

England v Switzerland

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