England lineup vs. Serbia confirmed as Man City talent makes debut, Jude Bellingham on bench

England have confirmed their starting XI to face Serbia in Thursday's World Cup 2026 qualifier at Wembley.

Thomas Tuchel's men head into their final two Group K fixtures safe in the knowledge that they have already secured their World Cup ticket thanks to their 5-0 thrashing of Latvia in October.

The England manager has made three changes to the side that put five past the Wolves last month, two of which are enforced due to the omissions of Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly and Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon.

With Lewis-Skelly missing, Tuchel has handed a full England debut to Manchester City protege Nico O'Reilly, who is expected to start on the left of the Three Lions' back four.

Tuchel has also recalled former Chelsea favourite Reece James in place of Tottenham Hotspur's Djed Spence, while Ezri Konsa and John Stones continue in defence amid Marc Guehi's absence through injury.

England lineup vs. Serbia: Marcus Rashford replaces Anthony Gordon in attack

The third and final change to the hosts' XI sees Marcus Rashford replace Gordon on the left-hand side of the attack, which also features Morgan Rogers in the number 10 role again as Jude Bellingham accepts a place on the bench.

Phil Foden is also among the substitutes following his recall to the national team, but Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott has been left out of the matchday squad following his maiden senior call-up.

The only recognised number nine in the squad, Harry Kane spearheads the charge, and the England skipper will be aiming to join Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney and Sir Bobby Charlton in an exclusive England goalscoring club.

While England's all-time top scorer is available, Serbia - who are playing their first game under new manager Veljko Paunovic - must make do without national team legend Aleksandar Mitrovic due to injury.

The former Fulham striker has unsurprisingly been replaced by Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic, who is expected to operate as the lone striker in a 4-3-3 setup for the Eagles.

Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic and Fulham's Sasa Lukic also start for the visitors, but Bournemouth goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic only makes the bench.

Serbia are one point below second-placed Albania in the Group K standings, and their hopes of making the playoffs will be extinguished if they lose and the current runners-up beat Andorra this evening.

England lineup: Pickford; James, Stones, Konsa, O'Reilly; Anderson, Rice; Saka, Rogers, Rashford; Kane

Subs: Chalobah, Henderson, Bellingham, Burn, D. Henderson, Spence, Wharton, Foden, Eze, Bowen, Trafford, Quansah

Serbia lineup: Rajkovic; Mimovic, Pavlovic, Milenkovic, Terzic; Gudelj, I. Ilic, Lukic; Zivkovic, Vlahovic, Kostic

Subs: V. Ilic, Petrovic, Grujic, Radonjic, Jovic, Katai, Veljkovic, Milosavjlevic, Erakovic, L. Ilic, Stankovic, Samardzic