England eased previous hosts Greece 3-0 of their Nations League match on Thursday to go prime of their Group B2 and head into their final matchday in opposition to Eire taking part in for promotion.
Objectives from Ollie Watkins, an personal objective by the Greeks and a late flick from Curtis Jones on his debut gave England a snug victory and put them on 12 factors from 5 matches.
They’re forward of Greece, who beat them 2-1 in London final month, on objective distinction.
The guests flew into Greece with out 9 gamers – together with Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold – who pulled out of interim boss Lee Carsley’s squad resulting from accidents.
Captain Harry Kane had sharply criticised the withdrawals, saying nation should at all times come earlier than membership.
Kane was surprisingly left on the bench till the second half however there was nothing lax about their begin with England comfortably controlling possession and getting an early objective from Watkins.
ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
“It represents that we’re transferring in the fitting course. We can’t get too carried away, we’ve got an enormous sport on Sunday at Wembley,” mentioned England’s interim boss Lee Carsley.
“We now have plenty of excellent expertise. The gamers that weren’t right here, we targeting those who had been. They took their alternative at the moment.
“Folks had been talking final evening concerning the inexperience within the squad however these gamers are taking part in for his or her golf equipment at a extremely excessive stage.”
Watkins tapped in for the lead within the seventh minute after a cutback from Noni Madueke, making his first England begin.
Greece, who had their first effort in the direction of objective after 25 minutes, step by step bought into the sport and had a golden probability to stage on the half hour mark however Kostas Tsimikas’ shot from contained in the field was punched vast by England keeper Jordan Pickford.
The guests got here shut once more within the 53rd however keeper Odisseas Vlachodimos stopped a shot by Rico Lewis earlier than Jude Bellingham noticed his header bounce off the submit seconds later.
With Greece pushing for an equaliser that might safe promotion for them, Pickford needed to come to the rescue once more within the 63rd minute, palming Fotis Ioannidis’ curled shot vast earlier than England struck twice late on to complete off the tie and acquire the benefit for the final matchday.
Jude Bellingham’s shot within the 78th bounced off the submit then the again of Vlachodimos for an personal objective.
Jones then added a 3rd 4 minutes later with a cheeky flick.
“Within the first 25-Half-hour we allowed them to flow into the ball an excessive amount of,” Greece defender Konstantinos Mavropanos mentioned. “Within the second half we took dangers that didn’t repay.
“The early objective affected us however in these 25 minutes we simply gave England an excessive amount of house and possession.”
The Greeks are second after their first loss within the marketing campaign and journey to Finland for his or her final match. The highest group wins promotion whereas the second-placed finisher goes right into a playoff.