England could equal an all-time national team winning record when they take on Greece in Thursday's UEFA Nations League showdown in Athens.
The Three Lions must overcome the 2004 European champions if they are to keep their hopes of automatic promotion to League A alive, having suffered a shock 2-1 loss to the Pirate Ship at Wembley last month.
Lee Carsley's side are three points behind their perfect hosts in League B Group 2 as a result, and even if they draw Thursday's game, they would not be able to overtake Greece on the final day to their inferior head-to-head record.
Defeat to Greece in the capital last month marked the first time that England had ever been beaten by the Euro 2004 winners, though, and they are yet to be stunted away from home against the Group 2 leaders.
The Three Lions have won each of their four games in Greece, and if they prevail on Thursday, they will equal their record for the most away matches played against a single team without ever losing or drawing.
England out to win fifth straight away game against Greece
© Imago
The only nation England currently boast a better 100% away record against is Luxembourg, whom they have beaten in all five of their games away from home, but their feats in Greece have been near-flawless.
The Three Lions have scored nine goals and conceded just one in their four away matches versus the Greeks, firstly prevailing 2-0 in 1971 thanks to goals from Martin Chivers and Sir Geoff Hurst.
Eleven years later in 1982, England comfortably beat Greece 3-0 on the road, a game in which former Three Lions, Liverpool and Everton assistant manager Sammy Lee was on target.
To date, the only goal that England have conceded in an away game against Greece came in a 2-1 friendly win in 1989, and their most recent success on the Pirate Ship's turf was a 2-0 victory in 2001, where Paul Scholes and David Beckham made the net bulge.
Excluding major tournaments, England have also managed to avoid defeat in each of their last seven games played away from home, their longest such sequence since a run of 12 under Roy Hodgson from 2013 to 2015.
Greece could join exclusive club against injury-hit England
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Carsley's ranks have been hit by a spate of withdrawals this week, though, as all of Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Aaron Ramsdale and Trent Alexander-Arnold have pulled out of the squad.
Jarrod Bowen, Jarrad Branthwaite and the uncapped Tino Livramento, Morgan Rogers and James Trafford have all been called up to plug the gaps, and Greece will join an elite club if they can make the most of England's fitness woes.
Having conquered Carsley's men at Wembley in October, Greece could now become just the fifth nation to beat the England men's team twice in the same calendar year after Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Wales.
Hungary were the most recent country to do so in their pair of 2022 Nations League matches, while Belgium sank Gareth Southgate's England twice at the 2018 World Cup.
Ben Knapton
