England vs. Wales: Thomas Tuchel could suffer 40, 50-year worsts in international friendly

England could suffer a 40-year worst and Thomas Tuchel a 50-year worst when the Three Lions welcome Wales to Wembley for Thursday's international friendly.

The German oversees his seventh game at the helm on October 9, seeking a sixth win from seven matches since being appointed Gareth Southgate's permanent successor in January.

The one aberration for Tuchel in that sequence was a surprise 3-1 friendly defeat to Senegal in June at the City Ground - England's first-ever loss to an African nation in senior men's football.

The visit of Senegal actually marked England's first non-competitive match for almost exactly a year, following another shock 1-0 reverse to Euro 2016 conquerors Iceland in June 2024 with Gareth Southgate in charge.

Should England suffer another unexpected loss on Thursday evening, it would mark the first time in 40 years that the Three Lions have been beaten in three consecutive friendly games since Sir Bobby Robson's side did so 40 years ago.

Thomas Tuchel at risk of 50-year worst in England vs. Wales

In 1985, Robson's England suffered a 1-0 friendly defeat to Scotland before subsequent exhibition losses to Italy (2-1) and Mexico (1-0) in June of that year at the unofficial Ciudad de Mexico Cup.

While England could be condemned to that 40-year worst, Tuchel himself will endeavour to avoid repeating a feat that none of his England predecessors have done for just over half a century.

The visit of Wales marks Tuchel's first game as England manager against a fellow home nation, and each of the last eight England managers to face Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland has won their first game against them.

The last Three Lions coach to fail in that regard was Don Revie, whose first meeting with a home nation saw his England side labour to a 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland in 1975.

England vs. Wales: Thomas Tuchel's selection dilemmas for international friendly

Tuchel largely stuck with the same selection of players from September's successes over Andorra and Serbia, spare the recalls for Bukayo Saka and John Stones due to Tino Livramento and Noni Madueke's injuries.

However, the former Chelsea manager may not have Harry Kane at his disposal for the friendly against Wales, as the captain is still struggling with the ankle injury he sustained in Bayern Munich's recent Bundesliga win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Kane played down the severity of his problem immediately after the match, but he was reportedly unable to train on Wednesday and is therefore a huge doubt for the clash with Wales, where Ollie Watkins could lead the line instead.

Tuchel is facing an interesting quandary over whom to select alongside Watkins, as Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford are all contenders for the left-wing spot, while the former could also battle Morgan Rogers and Morgan Gibbs-White for the number 10 role.

Stones, Djed Spence and Ezri Konsa are all right-back options as well, but Spence, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly may also be in contention to start at left-back against Wales.