England vs Serbia – Preview, Lineups, Score Prediction | OneFootball

Fixture: England vs Serbia Competition: FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers Kick-off: 13th November 2025, 19:45 UK time

England have sailed through qualifying to become the first European nation to book their place in the 2026 World Cup finals.

Thomas Tuchel’s tenure really got going after his side thumped Serbia 5-0 in Belgrade, the result and the performance placating England fans unhappy with the earlier flatness they witnessed.

The German has a perfect record for England in competitive action, his record marred only by a defeat to Senegal in a friendly.

Tuchel’s focus will surely be on fleshing out the squad for the World Cup and ensuring that there is no flab in be it a 26 or 30-man squad, with FIFA considering proposals to expand the squad limit.

He will be pleased that whoever he has handed a chance to, including the likes of Morgan Rogers and Elliot Anderson, have grabbed them with both hands and have shown hunger and desire to make the spot their own.

Tuchel will be confident that he can eliminate bloat even in a 30-man list, as a few names find themselves amongst the mix again while another midfielder has earned a call-up for the first time.

England Squad And Lineup Clues

Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Adam Wharton and Nico O’Reilly have all earned recalls, while Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott has earned a maiden senior call-up; he will not be involved though, missing out on the matchday squad. Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ollie Watkins, Morgan Gibbs-White and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, called up in October, do not find themselves on the squad list.

Newcastle United’s Nick Pope and Anthony Gordon are sidelined due to injury, leading to callups for James Trafford and Trevor Chalobah. Marc Guehi has missed out with a foot injury. Cole Palmer is also out with injury.

No recall has been forthcoming for Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Danny Welbeck and the trio will be left sweating with only one more international break scheduled between now and the commencement of the World Cup.

Grealish, who is ‘desperate’ for a recall, will be particularly disappointed to miss out, with Scott now getting a look-in ahead of him. Grealish, Alexander-Arnold and others on the fringes will have to give all they have until March and hope Tuchel notices.

Serbia Lowdown

Serbia have struggled and are in a race for the playoff spot with Albania, who are due to face England on Sunday.

Dragan Stojkovic, who was manager when the two sides met in September, has since resigned due to his side’s struggles and has subsequently been replaced by Veljko Paunovic, who brought national pride by winning the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2015. Stojkovic’s support of the government was also unpopular amongst some fans.

Paunovic will be leading his side out for the first time against England, having previously managed Chicago Fire, Guadalajara, Tigres UANL and Real Oviedo. Paunovic also has experience as Championship manager, having been the manager of Reading between mid-2020 and early-2022.

Serbia will be without the services of record scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is currently playing in Qatar.

Paunovic will be hoping for at least a draw with a game against Latvia to come, while Albania’s remaining two fixtures are against Andorra and England. Serbia will be hoping that England do them a favour on Thursday and when they play Albania, with the Serbs currently sitting a point behind the Albanians. An Albania win over Andorra coupled with a Serbia loss to England would me the end of the road for Serbia’s World Cup qualification hopes.

Recent Form

England: WWWWL Serbia: WLLWW

Key Men

England

Harry Kane is the leading scorer for England in the qualifiers and has saved them their blushes on occasion. Kane has a staggering 23 goals in all competitions, which have been netted from just 10.9 xG. With the pressure now off, Kane will want to fill his boots to keep the feel-good factor going.

Jude Bellingham has earned a recall and must now show that he can fit into Tuchel’s tactical demands without losing the edge to his game. With competition so fierce for his position, Bellingham will want to show that he has the added X-factor when compared to his competitors.

Morgan Rogers, with Bellingham back in the squad, will want to show that the No. 10 shirt is his to keep. Rogers will know that the best way to do that is through another strong and industrious showing in English colours.

Serbia

Dusan Vlahovic has two goals, with only Aleksandar Mitrovic having more goal involvements. Vlahovic will have to shoulder added responsibility in Mitrovic’s absence.

Luka Jovic’s career has stagnated since a failed transfer to Real Madrid. Jovic will see this as an opportunity to kick-start it again, with a playoff spot at stake for his nation.

Filip Kostic leads for key passes per game and has created the most big chances for Serbia. Kostic has to be on the top of his game for Serbia to contest and get something out of this fixture.

Match Prediction

Thomas Tuchel has managed to build a hungry and young squad that is keen on leaving everything on the pitch. By not rotating for the sake of rotating, he has made everyone earn the right to wear the shirt.

The German manager in a pre-match conference again reiterated that he will not stick the best players available into the playing eleven if it means they will be playing out of position. Instead, he will look to play the best that is available for the position, ensuring a natural flow to the game.

Bellingham’s return throws up intriguing scenarios, with England possessing riches for the No. 10 position. Rogers, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer all remain options, and Tuchel will leave it to the players to show who wants it the most.

Foden could also possibly be tried out as a false 9 if Tuchel wants tactical flexibility which he hinted at in the press conference.

What is sure is Serbia can expect no favours from England with so many players hungry to earn or keep their spot in the side.

Mitrovic’s absence has made it all the more difficult for them and the likes of Vlahovic and Kostic will have to turn on their A-game to keep their World Cup dreams alive.

With the Andorra-Albania game kicking off at the same time, any scoreline that is relayed from that match has the chance to reenergise or deflate Serbia.

England, who are yet to concede in World Cup qualification, should prove too strong for Serbia and are likely to run out comfortable winners.

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