World Cup 2026: England's shot at history against Serbia

Whilst the Three Lions could absolutely take things easy given that they've already qualified for the FIFA showpiece, there's little chance of Tuchel letting his players rest on their laurels.

Tuchel leaves players in no doubt

He noted as much in a recent interview.

"What we are trying to build is a strong bond, an energy, a group, a team, a brotherhood that everybody wants to join," he said.

"And to also build a competition that everyone knows 'if I pull out in the wrong moment, or from a 50-50 situation, the door can be closed because someone else takes my shirt, someone else takes my place.'

"...No one is giving us any signals that this may be a good time to rest because we have already qualified, and we will also not accept it, so it is an energy that feeds itself. This is the moment where we are."

The England head coach also had words for some senior members of the squad, suggesting that he wouldn't be taking them all to the USA next summer, and therefore, these next two games become that much more important for them too.

Record-breaking run could continue

With nine wins from the last nine competitive internationals, no goals conceded in eight - their longest run of clean sheets ever - and 18 goals scored in their six qualifying games, the Three Lions are on a record-breaking run at present.

If they were able to maintain their excellence in the final 180 minutes of qualifying, that would really send a statement to every other country competing at the World Cup next year.

England could win 10 in a row for just the second time in their history, and only Spain - between 2014 and 2016 - have won 10 consecutive competitive matches without conceding, so they also have a chance of equalling that record and even surpassing it next year.

Harry Kane is the man in form

In Harry Kane, the Three Lions also have European football's most in-form striker. In 20 games for club and country so far in 2025/26, he has an astonishing 26 goals, and six of England's 18 in qualifying have been scored by the Bayern Munich hit-man.

Two against Latvia gave him more than one goal in a match for the 13th time for his country, taking Nat Lofthouse's record, and Wembley holds a special place for him; no England player has scored more than Kane's 30 in 38 appearances at the famous stadium.

Were he to find the net again in North London, he would become just the fourth England player in history to score in five successive matches, though that's something he hasn't managed to do to date.

​The Serbian's arrive in the English capital with the memories of being comprehensively beaten 5-0 in the reverse fixture in September.

Monumental effort required by Serbia

A monumental effort is likely to be needed if the visitors want to get anything out of this game, and English complacency may be the only thing that allows them to do just that.

To give further context to how difficult a challenge Veljko Paunovic's men will face at Wembley, England are ranked first in qualifying for successful passes (4,061), pass accuracy (92%), average possession (75.8%), passes per sequence (6.4), average sequence time (17.8 seconds) and open-play sequences with 10 or more passes (172).

Tuchel's side has also had 50 shots on target during the qualifying phase, the second most of any team.

Serbia's stats are poor by comparison, though seventh best for pass completion (89%) suggests that they could give the hosts the runaround if they're allowed time on the ball.

Unbeaten in seven away from home

They've never won an away game in England, drawing three and losing five (as Serbia and Montenegro), but they do have some good recent away form to take into the fixture, being unbeaten in seven outside of their own country, winning five games and drawing two.

Just three defeats in the last 27 qualification games also speaks of a team that could be difficult to beat, albeit two of those reverses came in the last three matches, one of which was the loss to England.

Those defeats led them to replace Dragan Stojkovic with former Reading and Oviedo coach Paunovic, who knows he most likely needs a point from his first match to keep his nation's hopes of qualification alive, with Albania likely to beat Andorra.

Injuries to Marc Guehi and Anthony Gordon have ruled them out of contention for this one, whilst Serbia's top scorer in qualifying, Aleksandar Mitrovic, is out for the visitors.

Therefore, the lion's share of responsibility up front will fall to Dusan Vlahovic. The Juventus striker has had the most shots of any Serbian player during qualification (24) and also the most on target (nine).

Therefore, Jordan Pickford and his back four will need to be on their guard, particularly in the opening half hour as that's when the majority of Serbia's goals are scored.

Most of England's have come in the 15 minutes leading into half-time, which is the same period when Serbia have conceded most of theirs.

A fascinating encounter is therefore in prospect. Wembley awaits...

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