England vs Switzerland - as it happened: Marcus Rashford strike sees Three Lions return to winning ways
Re-live all the action from the King Power Stadium
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England will be looking to bounce back following a reality check that saw them succumb to a 2-1 home defeat to Spain in their opening game of the inaugural Nations League campaign.
Despite receiving a jubilant homecoming from a packed out Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, Gareth Southgate’s men were left to rue a string of missed chances after they were taught a footballing lesson of game management by a confident and clinical Spanish side.
England’s opponents for the night are an in-form Switzerland, who fared a lot better in their opening Nations League game after thrashing Iceland 6-0 on Saturday evening. They will be looking to inflict further misery on Southgate’s men when they meet on Tuesday night.
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What time does it start?
England vs Switzerland will kick off at 8:00pm (BST)
England vs Spain - player ratings
Show all 22Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event with coverage starting from 7:00pm.
It’s a big game for…
Harry Maguire: Fresh off signing a new extended contract to 2023 with Leicester City, Maguire will be looking to make an impression in front of a home crowd for whom he has now committed his long-term future.
Maguire was subject of interest from Manchester United during the summer and, following the big defenders’ impressive performances during England’s fantastic World Cup campaign, he seemed set for a move to Old Trafford.
However, the Sheffield born centre-back chose to repay the belief shown in him by the club that gave him the opportunity to play at the highest level and, assuming he features, will look to improve on his defensive performance from the defeat on Saturday in front of the Leicester faithful.
Best stat…
From 1948 onwards, England have lost only once to Switzerland in 21 meetings, thus suggesting that a Swiss victory would be a major upset.
Remember when…
In England’s last meeting with the Swiss, Wayne Rooney scored from the penalty spot to become England’s all-time top scorer surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton.
Player to watch…
Xherdan Shaqiri: Despite being limited to sub appearances only this season, Xherdan Shaqiri is still Switzerland’s most dangerous player, having played a vital role in the demolition of the Icelanders on Saturday evening.
Scoring one goal and assisting two on the night, Shaqiri’s potential threat to England should come as no surprise for regular viewers of the Premier League who have seen how devastating the little Swiss can be on his day.
Not only tricky with the ball at his feet, the winger possesses a wand of a left foot that can be extremely successful on set pieces and outside of the box with the spectacular almost a regular feature of the player’s performances.
Past three-meetings…
England 2 Switzerland 0, European Championship Qualifier, September 8 2015
Switzerland 0 England 2, European Championship Qualifier, September 8 2014
England 2 Switzerland 2, European Championship Qualifier, June 4th 2011
Form guide…
England: LDWLLL
Switzerland: WDWDLW
Odds…
England to win: 17/20
Switzerland to win: 23/10
Draw: 15/4
Hello!
Good evening and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of England's friendly vs Switzerland.
Team news is dropping in around about five minutes and we're expecting more changes to the side than there are people watching tonight's game.
If you're a Leicester fan then you could be in for a treat, Demarai Gray, Ben Chilwell and Harry Maguire could all play for England at the King Power Stadium. It's amazing to think how far Leicester have come since the days of Nigel Pearson calling reporters ostriches...
Team news
England team to play Switzerland: Butland; Walker, Tarkowski, Maguire; Alexander-Arnold, Loftus-Cheek, Dier, Delph, Rose; Rashford, Welbeck.
Sir Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford are the only players to keep their places in the starting lineup from Saturday's 2-1 defeat against Spain.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek gets a chance to show that he can play despite Chelsea's upmost attempts to stop him, and Jack Butland will give a reminder of what he can do in Jordan Pickford's absence.
'We've got (no) Alli...'
As reported earlier in the week, there is no Dele Alli, who returned to Tottenham following checks on a 'minor muscle strain'. Luke Shaw is out with concussion and Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana pulled out of the squad with injury last week.
No need to worry about results, but the performances are a concern, says Gary Neville
A defeat against Switzerland would make it four consecutive defeats for England for the first time since forever, BUT former England player and coach Gary Neville says there's not need to panic about the results, although there's room for improvement in performances.
"I think because of what happened in the World Cup, I don't think people would get concerned over the results," he said on Sky Sports.
"I think that Gareth will be concerned, I'm not too concerned about the result tonight or against Spain. I'm more concerned that there's a pattern emerging with this 5-3-2 that teams are attacking the outsides."
England's midfield problems
Playing in midfield tonight is Eric Dier, Fabian Delph and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but will there ever be a genuinely world-class player that can dominate games in the way the Luka Modric does for Croatia.
Miguel Delaney goes to the heart of the issue.
Gareth Southgate: "Our focus is on performance and improvement"
This is genuinely the last mention of that record. Anyway, Southgate was asked about the potential of losing four games in a row and says win records do not matter at this point in the season.
“Not many England sides have played a World Cup semi-final and a third/fourth place play-off,” Southgate pointed out. “The stats show what you want them to do.
"From our point of view, we don’t want to be losing games, but to play three games against teams of that quality is a rare occurrence in international football. Our focus is on performance and improvement. The World Cup is finished, but we keep focus on what we can control, to improve every area of game.”
“That focus on me, I am not concerned about,” Southgate said. “Otherwise I would make decisions to boost my own win record. Last summer we played friendlies against Brazil, France, Germany and Spain. If it was about my win record then we would not have.
"The decisions are for the team. The most important thing is to improve the team, and develop their experience. I can live with what people say, about my record, or relegations. I am comfortable in my own skin in that regard.
Team news
Of course, there is an opponent tonight, Switzerland!
Here's how they lineup: Sommer; Schar, Djourou, Akanji; Lichtsteiner, Zakaria, Xhaka, Freuler, Rodriguez; Shaqiri, Gavranovic
Beginning to be broadcast in black and white
The first 25 seconds of tonight's match will be broadcast in black and white to honour the 25th anniversary of football's anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out.
The picture on Sky Sports' coverage of the game at Leicester's King Power Stadium will switch to black and white as the teams take the pitch, and it will be first time England action has been broadcast without colour in nearly half a century.
The game, which kicks off at 8pm, has been dedicated to Kick It Out by the Football Association and England's stars will show their support by warming up in branded t-shirts and entering the pitch alongside mascots chosen by the charity.
In a statement, the FA's inclusion advisory board chairman Paul Elliott said: "Kick It Out have been a catalyst for the change in English football both on and off the pitch and we're delighted to celebrate their inspirational work in promoting football for all.
"Hopefully the footage will encourage the millions of viewers at home to spend at least 25 seconds thinking about the importance of diversity in this beautiful game of ours." PA
Midfield battle "will be tough"
Jack Pitt-Brooke has kindly made the trip to the King Power for The Independent this evening and says that England's back up midfield must start quickly.
"Tony Cottee is on pitch here at the King Power saying how important it is for England to win the midfield battle if they want to win this game against Switzerland. But that will be tough, neither Fabian Delph nor Ruben Loftus-Cheek has started a game before this one this season while even Eric Dier is not even a guaranteed starter for Spurs.
"This is very much England's back up midfield and they will have to get up to speed quickly if England are going to get into the game."
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