Overview
England's position at next year's World Cup is guaranteed, but Thomas Tuchel will not let the players falter ahead of the final qualifying match against Albania.
So far, the "Three Lions" have performed perfectly when winning all 7 matches in Group K. They have the opportunity to end the qualifying campaign impressively.
The 2-0 victory over Serbia helped England have 9 consecutive wins in all competitions without conceding. They will try to continue to maintain this record against Albania - the team that won a ticket to the play-off round after a 1-0 victory over Andorra.
Only Spain have had a longer winning streak without conceding, with 10 wins from October 2014 to June 2016. Tuchel's England have the chance to equal this record against Albania.
In a series of 9 wins, the "Three Lions" have only had to face 9 shots on target, including 5 shots in the match against Greece last November under Lee Carsley.
Under Tuchel, England have only had 28 shots, with an average of 0.43 shots on target per match. They have never had to face more than one shot on target in a match.
Jordan Pickford has played all 7 qualifiers, but only had to make 3 saves. He is one of two goalkeepers (since 2006) to have a 100% save percentage in the European World Cup qualifiers when playing 7 or more matches, along with Helge Payer of Austria.
On the other side of the front line, Albania have only scored more than one goal in one match in the qualifiers - a 3-0 home win over Andorra. In total, they have scored just 7 goals from 71 shots. In the most recent meeting with England, Albania only had 3 shots, a number they will need to improve if they want to cause a surprise.
The "Three Lions" are on a streak of 6 consecutive away wins in all competitions - the best record since May 1970 to December 2021. The last time they had a longer away win streak was from December65 to October 1967 with 9 consecutive matches.
While England's defense has received many compliments, they will certainly create a big threat in attack. Of course, Albania have also played quite solidly at home recently.
In fact, Albania have not conceded any goals in their home qualifiers in major tournaments (EURO/World Cup) in their last 8 matches, since a 0-1 defeat to Poland in October 2021.
In this series, they have to face 70 shots (17 shots on target) and have a total xG of 4.61, but still keep a clean sheet.
Head-to-head record
In the last meeting between the two teams in March, England won 2-0.
Albania have lost all seven of their meetings with the "Three Lions", all of which were in the World Cup qualifiers. They have conceded at least two goals in each defeat and scored just one, as Altin Rraklli did in a 3-1 defeat in March 2001.
Score prediction: Albania 1-2 England
The match between Albania and England takes place at 0:00 am on November 17 (Vietnam time).
