England, 1/7 for victory, welcome Albania to begin another campaign which should ultimately end up with them in top spot and at the tournament in North America next year.

But this marks a new era for the Three Lions - one which, finally, has all the potential for success at the end of it.

They've so desperately wanted to be the bride but had to settle for bridesmaid over the past few years. The nearly men not once but twice, an admirable effort but one which will always be viewed as a missed opportunity.

Gareth Southgate did so much for the side but England needed someone who could handle the big occasion. Ultimately, the general pattern of the Southgate era involved beating those they were expected to but fell at the hurdle of a semi-decent side.

It's the first game of the Thomas Tuchel era for England

Enter: Thomas Tuchel.

Bundesliga winner. Ligue 1 winner. Champions League winner. Club World Cup winner.

International management is almost a different game and you can't be overcomplicated with the tactical side of things - you simply don't have the time when working with your squad.

But Tuchel looks a great fit. A man who can handle those big moments and someone who has experienced English football. This isn't a completely new game to him.

England will almost certainly win on Friday night. The focus will come on what we can take from how they achieve that.

What are the best bets?

It's a step into the unknown.

We can analyse how Tuchel's teams have previously played but it feels as if we'll see an adapted version of previous tactics based on his press conference comments.

He was asked about the style and the answer was certainly interesting.

Will the England squad get to grips with Tuchel's new style?

Falling just one step short of a Mike Bassett reciting of Rudyard Kipling's 'If', it seems like Tuchel's England will have a focus on being, well, like a typical England team.

"It [the style] needs to reflect the Premier League," he said following the squad announcement.

"The Premier League is a very physical and demanding league. We should be brave enough to play like an England squad.

"We should not try to copy other nations or other styles. It should be the values of the country and the strongest league in the world.

"We will try to implement a direct style, an attacking style and we will try to increase the rhythm in our game and the intensity of our game. We will try to do this in a crash course from Monday and unleash the potential on Friday."

That direct approach could give England a decent advantage in the air. Albania ranked 47th of 54 for aerial duels won during the most recent Nations League campaign (41.67%) while at Euro 2024 they were 23rd from 24 (37.88%).

What's particularly concerning about that for Albania is they ranked 25th for aerial duels per match - sat inside the top half for total amount but very much at the lower end for those in which they came out on top.

With England expected to be on the front foot and likely to take a fair few corners because of it, I'll side with the 6/1 on MARC GUEHI 1+ SHOTS ON TARGET and the 9/2 for LEVI COLWILL 1+ SHOTS ON TARGET.

Tuchel's Bayern scored the most set-piece goals in the Bundesliga in 23/24 (18% of their goals came from corners and free-kicks) with the figure standing at 13% for his PSG side of 18/19.

Colwill scored in Chelsea's recent 4-0 win over Southampton and he's regularly winning aerial duels against opponents.

He sits 11th among regular starters for total aerial duels won in the Premier League this season, with his success rate standing at 62.16%.

Guehi sits 16th in the won metric with his success rate a strong 59.05%. Berat Djimsiti returns for Albania while Marash Kumbulla may also start at the back but beyond that, they are struggling for options good enough to deal with multiple aerial threats.

Obviously, bigger prices are available on a goal for either, but the shots on targets odds are good enough to justify involvement.

Team news

Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are likely starters

There's far more guesswork that goes into who England will opt to start with on Friday night.

While some think Tuchel will opt for a back-three system, he showed a clear preference for a 4-2-3-1 during his most recent managerial spell with Bayern Munich and could well go for that considering the match-up.

He's tactically flexible and recent comments suggest it could be that back-four style, potentially even adapting to a 4-4-2 of sorts.

Harry Kane will lead the line while Jordan Pickford should continue in goal, with Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice other obvious contenders to start.

The other positions are up for grabs and we should see plenty of rotation across the two games in this international break.

Cole Palmer dropped out of the squad through injury, with Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White called up to replace him.

Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold is another injury absentee.

For Albania, Mario Mitaj is expected to miss the remainder of the season with injury. Naser Aliji is likely to replace him at left-back.

Rangers' Nedim Bajrami may also come back into the attack having been a substitute during their most recent Nations League contest.

Predicted line-ups

England XI: Pickford; James, Guehi, Colwill, Burn; Rice, Henderson; Foden, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.

Albania XI: Strakosha; Balliu, Ismaijli, Djimsiti, Aliji; Asllani, Laci, Ramadani; Asani, Broja, Bajrami.

Match facts

England have won all six of their matches against Albania, only having a better 100% win ratio against Luxembourg (9/9), San Marino (8/8) and Malta (7/7).
Albania have only scored one goal in six meetings with England, an Altin Rraklli strike in a 3-1 defeat in March 2001. It is their lowest goals-per-game rate (0.17) against any nation they’ve faced three or more times.
England are unbeaten in their last 31 FIFA World Cup qualifiers (W23 D8), the longest ongoing run of any European nation. Only once have the Three Lions lost their first qualifier of a campaign (W13 D3), losing 1-0 to Germany in October 2000 in their final game at the old Wembley.
Albania have never won a competitive match against a nation who are in the top-10 of the FIFA World Rankings (D2 L17). Including friendlies, they did beat France (ranked 9th) 1-0 in June 2015 thanks to a goal from Ergys Kaçe.
England have won 16 of their last 17 internationals against nations whose name begins with A (D1), keeping 15 clean sheets. The last ‘A’ nation to beat England was Australia at Upton Park back in February 2003, while in a competitive match it was Argentina at the 1986 World Cup.
This will be Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge of England. Each of the last 10 permanent managers have won their first game as Three Lions boss, since Bobby Robson drew 1-1 with Denmark in 1982. The only permanent manager to lose his first game was Alf Ramsey in 1963 against France.
Jude Bellingham has been involved in 10 goals in his last 15 appearances for England (5 goals, 5 assists). His next appearance will be his 41st cap for the Three Lions, the most ever by a player aged 21 or younger, breaking Wayne Rooney’s record of 40 between 2003 and 2007.
Since Harry Kane made his first appearance in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in September 2016, only Robert Lewandowski (25) and Cristiano Ronaldo (21) have netted more qualifying goals among European players than Kane (17 in 14 games). The Bayern forward has also been involved in six goals in two games against Albania (4 goals, 2 assists).

Odds correct at 1400 GMT (19/03/25)

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