England conclude a triumphant Euro 2024 qualification campaign with a trip to North Macedonia on Monday evening.
Gareth Southgate’s side have veered between unplayable and underwhelming while racking up six wins from seven games to top Group C, the only blemish being a 1-1 draw away to Ukraine.
North Macedonia felt the full force of the Three Lions when they travelled to Wembley in June, getting thumped 7-0. Blagoja Milevski’s punchy outfit are guaranteed to finish fourth and miss out on next summer’s Euros while Italy and Ukraine battle it out for second place in Leverkusen on Monday.
Here’s everything you need to know about England’s final match of 2023.
North Macedonia vs England H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current Form (Last Five Games)
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Country |
TV channel/live stream |
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United Kingdom |
Channel 4 |
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United States |
ViX |
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Canada |
DAZN |
North Macedonia could not inflict another chastening defeat on their familiar foes Italy last Friday – although, they did scare the reigning European champions. Trailing 2-0 at half-time, Milevski made a triple substitution.
Jani Atanasov was one of the arrivals in the purely tactical change and scored twice, briefly making it 3-2 before Italy sealed all three points. Atanasov has surely done enough to warrant inclusion from the off this Monday and could be one of several changes Milevski makes with a fully fit squad at his disposal.
North Macedonia predicted lineup (3-4-3): Dimitrievski; Ashkovski, Serafimov, Musliu; Dimoski, Atanasov, Elezi, Alioski; Ristovski, Bardhi, Elmas
The sight of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Marcus Rashford running at full steam into one another perfectly captured England’s clumsy, clunky 2-0 win over Malta last Friday.
Southgate downplayed the damage done to the Manchester United forward, who was swiftly replaced by Cole Palmer. Yet, the England boss may have already been eyeing up a start for Jack Grealish on the left wing after leaving the Manchester City man on the bench against Malta.
The likes of Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are expected to be recalled while it remains to be seen whether Alexander-Arnold will retain his role in midfield. Southgate lost another versatile right-back in the form of Kieran Trippier after he withdrew from the squad for personal reasons on Sunday.
AC Milan’s right-footed centre-back Fikayo Tomori was awkwardly shoehorned on to the left-hand side of England’s defence against Malta. If Southgate doesn’t reprise that failed experiment, he could hand City’s Rico Lewis a senior debut.
England predicted lineup (4-3-3): Pickford; Walker, Guehi, Maguire, Lewis; Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Phillips; Saka, Kane, Grealish.
England were desperately lacklustre against Malta and can scarcely afford to be as limp when travelling to the home of North Macedonia, a nation ranked more than 100 places higher than their previous opponents.
While Monday’s contest may be more testing, England are still heavy favourites. With Southgate likely to strengthen his starting XI, the defeated European finalists still have to cement their spot in Pot 1 for the Euro 2024 group-stage draw next month. Only the five group winners with the best record earn the best seeding positions. One point would be enough for the Three Lions but they may well be on course for all three.
