England v Albania: Back early goal for Tuchel's men at 17/10 and two more Friday night tips

• Early advantage for Three Lions backed at 17/102.70

• Possession and pressure to lead to spot-kick

• Kane to extend his record international haul

England v Albania
World Cup Qualifier
Friday, March 21, 2025
Live on ITV1 (UK)

It's a difficult task predicting Thomas Tuchel's first ever England starting XI. His squad greatly surprised, with inclusions that came out of left-field, or in Jordan Henderson's case, the past. What are our chances then of correctly predicting who Tuchel will select to face Albania at Wembley this Friday?

And yet, to an extent we can. Because, for all the talk of this being an exciting new era for the Three Lions - with brilliant youngsters emerging - by bringing Henderson back into the fold, and maintaining Kyle Walker's international status, Tuchel has made it clear that he plans to lean on experience for the short-term. That right there is a big clue.

Additionally, such conservative thinking puts Reece James in the frame, familiar to Tuchel from their time at Chelsea.

The following four players are fancied to feature strongly against Albania. Better yet, all are in decent form.

Pickford is still number one

Tuchel will likely want to see two from his goalkeeping roster this coming week, with Dean Henderson tipped to start versus Latvia on Monday. The former PSG coach rates the 28-year-old highly.

Yet for his opening gambit, against an Albanian side who rank significantly higher than the Latvians, how can he possibly overlook England's mainstay between the sticks, a veteran of four major tournaments?

Pickford though will not be picked purely for his experience. The Everton stopper's 70.2% save percentage may be down on last season but it's still a commendable figure. Moreso, only Matz Sels and David Raya have kept more clean sheets in the top-flight in 2024/25 and that is extremely impressive given that the Toffees lie 15th in the table.

Furthermore, it could be a quiet-ish night for England's number one. The Red and Black's impressed at last year's Euros but have since scored 0.6 goals per 90.

All things considered, England to win to nil at 8/151.53 is a big shout for any Bet Builder.

Reece James' attacking merits

Returning from yet another drawn-out injury lay-off, James has put in some stand-out performances in recent weeks, and deserves his swift England recall. He is expected to start on Friday too, what with Trent Alexander-Arnold being out and Tuchel knowing - and implicitly trusting - James down the right.

Since re-establishing himself as a regular at the Bridge, James has scored and assisted while in his last showing at full-back he accrued three key passes. But it's not just his attacking merits that appeal. In his last seven games, he has averaged a 94.7% pass completion rate.

Bear in mind that Chelsea racked up 78.9% possession and completed 820 passes during Tuchel's first game in charge against Wolves in 2021, a record for any new Premier League boss. Will we see similar numbers at Wembley against an inferior opponent?

If so it will bring to mind the dominant displays enjoyed by England against 'minnows' across their last World Cup qualifying campaign, 10 fixtures that produced plenty of possession, goals, and pertinently, four penalties awarded to the Three Lions.

Reborn Rashford

Marcus Rashford's season was circling the drain at Old Trafford but, since joining Aston Villa on loan in January, he has gained a new lease of life, assisting every 112 minutes and generally rediscovering his threat of old.

His only full 90 minutes to date for the Villans saw him terrorise Club Brugge in the Champions League, assisting for a goal, executing three key passes and committing to seven dribble attempts.

Set to be stationed on the left, Rashford will come up against Ivan Balliu who has struggled for game-time at Rayo Vallecano. The Villa man will be desperately hoping to add to his 17-goal international haul, last scoring versus Italy in the autumn of 2023.

Of those 17, nine were converted in the first-half, four of them inside 15 minutes.

Harry Kane prompts 5/61.84 shout

There may be conversations every international break these days about Harry Kane's diminishing impact. His press is miles off. When he drops deep he typically inhabits the same space as Jude Bellingham.

Yet England's record goal-scorer has still put away six in his last 10 starts for his country. For Bayern Munich, he has continued his phenomenal return in the Bundesliga. A staggering 43 goal involvements in 37 is enough to make Mo Salah envious.

Kane will start. He is a player who Tuchel would have killed to have during his time in England, instead having to make do with a misfiring Romelu Lukaku and a lightweight Christian Pulisic.

What's more, the 31-year-old England captain will be looking to add to his 69 goals, and furthermore add to his four in two previous meetings with Albania.

In their last 10 encounters with teams ranked in the top 20, Albania have shipped in 2.5 goals per 90. Kane is 3/14.00 to score two or more at Wembley.

Now read Paul Higham's Nations League guide ahead of a week of international clashes