Three Lions head coach Thomas Tuchel and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford addressed the media on Monday evening ahead of the World Cup Qualifier.

Here is what they had to say.

Tuchel on the latest injury news:

Very easy with Harry – he can play, he’s fit. We did the right thing. He’s top in training and ready to go. I don’t see why he should not be able to play 90 minutes. The pause was just a short pause for him. He played all matches before for Bayern Munich, so I don’t see any obstacles there.

Ollie left camp unfortunately. It was too painful and he could not train with us, so he’s in treatment with his club and tries to get ready for the weekend.

That’s basically it. Everyone else is with us and available.

On the recent shift in performance levels:

I saw it even against Andorra at home even if we couldn’t prove it in terms of the result and maybe people outside expected more than just the 2-0 and underestimated the defence performance from Andorra a little bit. I saw it even in this game – the commitment especially in the defensive work, the commitment in the high press.

There was a significant shift in our attitude, in the way we played. We had, of course, two very good two results, good performances lately against Serbia and against Wales. We want to take the next step. I feel this, I feel that we’re building something and going in the right direction.

On the potential to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup tomorrow night:

As always in sports, tomorrow is the most difficult game. Tomorrow, we have to show our respect our opponent, respect the circumstances – it’s an away match in a World Cup Qualifier. With the result from Albania and Serbia, we can qualify tomorrow and we want to do it with a win. It’s extra motivation.

On the starting XI:

I have not decided yet but everyone – all of the players – deserves [it]. We had enough time to recover after the match against Wales, so we had two full training sessions yesterday and today.

The spirit and the momentum is clearly there. The players are fully focused. They trained with an awareness, they trained with joy, they trained with a lot of quality – you can sense it.

Everyone made an impact, everyone made themselves available and it’s on us to take some choices. I don’t think that we can go wrong with the choices but the question will be, ‘will we change a lot and how do we manage some minutes?’

The focus is on building a strong team, starting a strong team, starting a team that is used to playing with each other, to not give any wrong signals because it’s a given to respect your opponent and we need a strong team and a strong performance to win an away game in a World Cup Qualifier.

Pickford on breaking Gordon Banks record and eyeing his 80th cap:

I think it’s good when you break them but I think everyone knows what I’m like – a team player and I’ll take credit sometimes but I think it’s a collective sport. We win together, we defend and we attack together.

Like Harry says, the defence starts from up top really. It’s all eleven of us putting a shift in and when I’m called upon, I’ll make the saves. It’s great to have that milestone and hopefully break it again tomorrow and get nine.

On managing quieter spells during games:

Every goalkeeper is different. I’m quite vocal and communicate with my team. I feel like that keeps me in the game. Even if the ball is at the other end of the pitch, I’ll be moving about, keeping in the right line and just being switched on constantly.

It’s something you get used to and something I’ve improved on over the years, just being in the right position at the right time and keeping communicating with the back four in front of me. That keeps me in sync with the game and when called upon, I should be there and ready to make an action.

On the performances of Elliot Anderson and Morgan Rogers:

Elliot has been terrific and Morgan as well. I think Elliot in the last two games, just getting on the ball, half-turn, but the defensive side of it as well which not many people will see. For the back four with him in front of you, he’s always getting back and screening the centre forward like we did against Kieffer Moore the other – a big target – and he’s always there for second balls and breaks up the play well.

Morgan, as well, you’ve seen it in the Serbia game and getting his first goal against Wales the other night is massive moment for him and hopefully see many more.

Elliot went to the EUROs with the under-21s and won it, so it just shows the pathway still for England, how good the pathway is for us lads to get through and winning major tournaments at under-21s level and coming into the seniors and feeling comfortable.

Us as a group, it’s a great group to be around because you get welcomed straight away and you feel at home and not out of place and you let the football do the talking because we’ve got that good environment.

On England’s 3-0 win over Latvia in March:

It was a good game. Reece came up with a great free kick and apart from that, we had a lot of the ball but we still had to be wary of the threat from Latvia. It was tight and hopefully for us tomorrow, England will get on the front foot and get right after them.

Latvia in profile


Nickname: Eleven Wolves
Coach: Paolo Nicolato
Captain: Kristers Tobers

 

 

Match Stats

 

● This will be the second meeting between Latvia and England, with the first coming in March this year when the Three Lions won 3-0 at Wembley with goals from Reece James, Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze.

● Latvia will be the 72nd nation England have played an away match against – they’ve won their last three first time away games against a nation (3-2 v Slovenia in 2015, 3-0 v Lithuania in 2015 and 4-0 v Kosovo in 2019).

● Latvia have lost their last 14 matches against sides in top-10 of the FIFA World Rankings by an aggregate score of 41-1. They last avoided defeat in a 0-0 draw at EURO 2004 against Germany.

● England have kept eight clean sheets in their last nine matches, their only blemish in this run a 3-1 friendly defeat against Senegal in June. The Three Lions are still yet to concede a competitive goal in five matches under Thomas Tuchel.

● Under Thomas Tuchel, England are averaging 643 successful passes per game, 17 shots per game and 42 touches in the opposition box per game, all higher totals than their averages under Sir Gareth Southgate (526 successful passes, 13 shots and 28 touches in the opposition box).

● Prior to this current international break, 24 of the 54 nations competing in UEFA World Cup 2026 qualification had only played two games compared to England’s five, but despite that the Three Lions had faced fewer shots on target than any other nation (1), going 316 minutes since last facing one vs Latvia.

● Ollie Watkins has scored in four of his seven starts for England, scoring four goals. Overall he has six goals for the Three Lions, with Billy Walker (9) and David Platt (7) the only two Aston Villa players to score more goals for England than Watkins.

● Jordan Pickford is the first ever England goalkeeper to go eight consecutive games without conceding a goal for the Three Lions. His clean sheet against Wales was his 40th for England, with only Peter Shilton keeping more (58).

England Squad News

 

Ticket Information

 

Ticket information for this game will appear here once announced.

 

How to watch or stream


This game will be available to watch live on ITV1, STV, ITVX and STV Player.