England’s perfect start faces its toughest test

Gareth Southgate’s side have five wins out of five in World Cup qualifying but now travel to Warsaw for what looks to be their most difficult game of the group

England travel to face Poland on Wednesday (Action images via Reuters)

England head into the toughest game of their World Cup qualifying campaign in the best possible shape.

The 4-0 victory over Andorra on Sunday that followed another 4-0 triumph, in Budapest against Hungary, means it's a perfect five from five so far on the Three Lions' road to Qatar.

Qualifying for major tournaments wasn't always this easy. Indeed, previous incarnations of the national team had to rely on big results late in campaigns to reach their goals while others infamously failed to get there at all in the not so distant past.

The route has softened somewhat in recent years, of course - there won't be any do-or-die trips to Rome in this qualifying cycle - but the record in these matches for Gareth Southgate's side is something worth celebrating nonetheless.

The visit to Warsaw though projects to be the trickiest test of England's unblemished run to date, however.

A narrow 2-1 home win over the same opponents back in March shouldn't take away from the fact the Poles present a tough assignment on the road this week.

Southgate himself is acutely aware of that and while his side's form, both in the last week and over the summer where they reached the final of Euro 2020, is an undoubted positive, complacency must not now creep in with a place at the 2022 World Cup now tantalisingly close.

"As a team, we have to recognise we are in a good moment and the team is playing well," he said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. "We have a squad of players, any of whom are more than comfortable to play and are playing well.

"But also those moments are dangerous because, if we get any sense of complacency, we are going into a game that will be a challenge.

"It is a high level of motivation but also guarding against a feeling we are better than we are. We are getting a good set of results because we are working hard for each other."

The win over Andorra at Wembley on Sunday was executed largely by Southgate's squad players, Jesse Lingard scoring twice as part of an entirely-changed starting eleven from Hungary three days previous.

That leaves the manager with plenty to think about and he insists it won't just be a case of reverting back to those who started the first game of this international break.

Indeed, that competition for places is central to Southgate's philosophy for this maturing side.

"You could argue over what is our strongest team but the team that played in Hungary, we were obviously able to rest those guys after the game," he added.

Gareth Southgate is not getting carried away with his side’s form (PA Wire)

"There is still huge competition for places in this group and it is not so straightforward to say we won that game and this team will go again and give the same level of performance.

"The challenge of the game in Poland will be different. The problems you get on the night can be different so we can't drift on the night."

Poland's preeminent danger is clear. Robert Lewandowski will be the hosts' main man in Warsaw - he has 72 goals in 124 international games - and heads into this match fresh from scoring two more against San Marino last time out.

The Poles were shorn of their talisman by injury in the reverse fixture with boss Paulo Sousa admitting his side are a much different proposition with and without their skipper.

Southgate is in agreement but knows also his team must guard against other threats as well.

"They played at Wembley without him and they gave a very good account of themselves," he added. "We only scored really late on in the game to win it, so of course it's no different if we didn't have Harry Kane or Raheem (Sterling) then they would be a big loss to us.

"The very top players for any team in the world are a loss if you don't have them and every coach will feel the same way. But when we're preparing the team to play against Poland, we're not just looking at Lewandowski.

"We absolutely respect what he brings and we know what a threat he is, but they've got some other very dangerous players as well."