England lineup vs. Wales: Predicted XI for international friendly with four changes guaranteed

England head coach Thomas Tuchel will be without a number of high-profile names for Thursday’s international friendly with rivals Wales at Wembley Stadium.

Reece James, Tino Livramento and Noni Madueke all started the Three Lions’ 5-0 victory against Serbia in World Cup qualifying last month, but all three players are currently sidelined with injuries. Following James’s withdrawal on Monday, Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly has been handed his first senior call-up.

Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold are also injured, while Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Adam Wharton have all been omitted from the England squad, with Tuchel insisting that he has “no problem” with any of those players.

In addition, captain Harry Kane missed team training on Wednesday with an ankle injury and Tuchel has since confirmed that the Bayern Munich striker will not be involved against Wales. Ollie Watkins, Marcus Rashford and Jarrod Bowen are all in contention to be called upon to start as the central striker.

John Stones, who was initially called up last month before withdrawing through injury, has returned to the England setup and is in contention to start at centre-back alongside either Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa or Dan Burn, while Dean Henderson could be presented with an opportunity to start in goal ahead of first-choice shot-stopper Jordan Pickford, who is expected to play against Latvia next Tuesday.

Myles Lewis-Skelly has not been starting regularly for Arsenal this term, but he is likely to feature at left-back against Wales in the absence of Livramento, unless Tuchel opts to start either O’Reilly or Djed Spence, who could also play at right-back and is available to start his first-ever England game after making his international debut as a substitute against Serbia.

Across his first two caps against Andorra and Serbia last month, Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson led all England players for successful passes (182), possession won (23), forward passes (48), successful long passes (10) and tackles (five). He will hope to retain his starting spot on Thursday and could be joined in midfield by Declan Rice. Jordan Henderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Morgan Rogers are four more midfielders in contention to start.

Bukayo Saka has returned to Tuchel’s squad after a spell sidelined with injury and the Arsenal star is the most likely candidate to operate on the right flank, while Rashford, Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze are all set to battle for a place on the left.

England possible starting lineup: D. Henderson; Spence, Konsa, Burn, Lewis-Skelly; Rice, Anderson, Rogers; Saka, Watkins, Rashford