UEFA Nations League 2018: 5 On-field battles that could decide the England vs Croatia match
England vs Croatia is going to be a very important game not only for both these teams but for Spain as well.
This game will decide the fate of League A group 4 of Nations League with all the teams still having a chance to qualify for next stage and keep their hopes of winning the Nations League alive.
Both these teams know each other well, having each other twice in the last four months and on both occasions,
England was unable to get the best of Dalic's Croatia. On this occasion though only a win can help England's cause.
These are the 5 key battles where the game can be decided.
#5 Dejan Lovren vs Harry Kane
Dejan Lovren and Harry Kane are familiar foes and play against each other regularly in Premier League for Liverpool and Tottenham respectively.
Lovren had a good game against England last time in home conditions, but Kane is someone who surely brings backs the memories of Tottenham at Wembley last season where Lovren was substituted before halftime after a horrible performance against the Spurs.
Now, back at the very same stadium, it will be interesting to see how he deals with Kane with crowd support against him.
Lovren has definitely improved a lot as a defender since van Dijk joined Liverpool but keeping Kane quiet is no easy job even for the self-proclaimed one of the best defenders in the world.
With Kane's aerial ability Lovren could also be the man asked to man-mark him on the set-pieces as well.
Kane is extremely important for England's attack and Lovren on the other side extremely important for Croatia's defence as pinpointed by Croatia's 6-0 defeat to Spain in the absence of Lovren for Croatia's first Nations League game.
This battle can make or break one team's attack and other's defence.