Preview: How should England set up against Montenegro

Roy Hodgson

England’s World Cup qualifier against Montenegro is a make-or-break fixture for the Three Lions. They’ve been thoroughly underwhelming throughout the group stage so far and in order to prevent dropping to the playoff rounds, must chalk up a victory tonight to avoid dropping into the playoff stages of the competition. In order to do that, however, they’ve got to get their starting squad right—all the way from their goalkeeper to the top of their attack.

Here’s how England should attack Montenegro.

GK: Joe Hart, Manchester City

Having received backing from Roy Hodgson, Joe Hart appears likely to start in this one. The 26-year-old has had his wobbles this season, but has averaged just 1.14 goals against this year in the Premier League, with a strong claim success rate of 93%. He was slightly better against Everton than he was against Bayern Munich, and should bounce back again here.

RB: Kyle Walker, Tottenham

Another favourite of Hodgson, Walker should again be picked here to offer a nice overlapping presence down the right-flank. The 23-year-old has started all seven games for Spurs this season, and showed serious potency at both ends of the pitch—winning 12 of his 16 attempted tackles, but also completing 8 of his 12 attempted take-ons. He has also created more goal-scoring chances than any other defender in the Premier League this season with 13 chances created.

CB: Phil Jagielka, Everton

A favourite of Hodgson throughout the qualifiers, Jagielka should retain his central defensive position alongside Cahill, with whom he is slowly forming a very sound partnership. In his seven domestic appearances for Everton this year, the 31-year-old has won 100% of his attempted tackles, 69% of his attempted headed duels and leads the club with an average of 11 defensive actions per game—numbers that England he reproduces against Montenegro.

CB: Gary Cahill, Chelsea

Cahill might not be the most physically imposing defenders in world football, but he reads the game very well, and will start in this one. The Chelsea man missed the last two Premier League games for the Blues due to the return of David Luiz from injury, but was strong before that—averaging six defensive actions per game and winning 18 of 22 attempted headed duels.

LB: Leighton Baines, Everton

With Ashley Cole injured, Baines is an automatic selection here—and what an important role he will play down the left for England! No other player in Europe’s major leagues created as many chances as Baines did last season for the Toffees, and he has continued that with further strong performances this season—currently ranked as Everton’s best player in the season to date.