Saka and Eze on the scoresheet as England ease past Serbia | OneFootball

Goals from Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Ebere Eze secured a 2-0 win for England over Serbia as Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden made their returns to the Three Lions team.

Bellingham, back in the squad having missed out on the last one, was absent from the starting XI with Morgan Rogers starting in his place, while Foden was also on the bench, with both coming on as second-half substitutes.

The game itself went as you would expect. An England win, without conceding a goal. Serbia came to London with a new manager, Veljko Paunovic, at the helm. The Serbian had been tasked with helping his nation qualify for the World Cup, a tall task.

England started well, with Marcus Rashford and Elliot Anderson shining in the first half. Remarkably Anderson only entered the fold in September, but already looks a certainty to start in midfield for England at the World Cup if fit.

It is a testament to the talent of the 23-year-old. As has happened so often this season, the play ran through him.

The midfielder is adept at playing line-breaking passes in a way that not many in this England squad can. That was shown with a ball he played through for Saka in the first half.

The Arsenal winger could not do anything with it on that occasion, but it was he who scored the opening goal for England.

Just before the half-hour mark, England won a free-kick inside the Serbian half. The ball fell to Nico O’Reilly who attempted a shot from the edge of the box, but it was blocked by a defender and landed perfectly at the feet of Saka.

The 24-year-old guided it perfectly, on the volley, into the bottom-left corner of the goal.

The rest of the game was fairly stale. Serbia had a couple of good chances, falling to their main man Dusan Vlahovic. The Juventus striker cut an isolated figure up front for much of the game, but spurned an excellent chance just before the hour mark.

Filip Kostic played through Vlahovic in the middle and the forward attempted a flick into the net, but dragged it wide.

Shortly after that, Tuchel decided to change things up. Harry Kane went off for Foden, and Bellingham replaced Rogers to huge applause.

Tuchel opted to put Foden in a false nine position, having noted earlier in the week that the Manchester City star operates best between the lines.

And the forward registered an assist for Eberechi Eze in the 90th minute. He ran through the Serbian half before setting up Eze on the edge of the box.

The Arsenal forward curled a lovely effort past Predrag Rajkovic to put the icing on the cake for the Three Lions.

Tuchel still has some big decisions to make before the World Cup next year, including the Bellingham conundrum, as well as who starts at centre-back, but this was another encouraging sign for the Three Lions boss.