Overview
Although Thomas Tuchel was disappointed when England could not maintain a 3-goal lead over Wales, he was still impressed with the performance of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
The Everton goalkeeper made history by keeping a clean sheet against Wales at Wembley, becoming the first Everton goalkeeper to not concede a goal in eight consecutive games.
Before that, Pickford shared a record of 7 clean sheets with Gordon Banks, reaching this milestone in 2021. Banks's record appeared in 1966 and was terminated by Eusebio in the FIFA World Cup semi-final that year.
Under Tuchel, England have yet to concede a goal in five official games. Pickford's five clean sheets in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Europe are the most of any goalkeeper. They will look to extend this impressive streak of results in the match against Latvia, with their place in the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico guaranteed.
With Serbia losing to Albania 0-1, England understood that a victory in Riga would officially help them qualify for the World Cup. And with the consistent form of the players at both ends of the pitch, Tuchel will aim to complete that task easily.
Pickford has kept a clean sheet in 8 of the last 9 matches. The only draw in this run was a 13th-place loss to Senegal in June, when Dean Henderson came on.
This shows the impressive strength of England's defense, when Pickford only had to make one save in 5 qualifiers.
Before this international break, 24 out of 54 countries participating in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Europe only played 2 matches, compared to 5 matches of England. However, despite playing more than most of the other teams, Tuchel's side have had to face the fewest shots on target (1) . They have gone 316 minutes without a shot on target since their last meeting with Ukraine in March.
Pickford has now kept a clean sheet in 40 games for England, just 18 games behind Peter Shilton's all-time record.
England will try to take advantage against a struggling Latvia. They have only won one qualifying campaign - at home against Andorra. Ukraine have also won just one of their six games in the 2024 UEFA Nations League.
Ukraine are on a 14-match losing streak against teams in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings, with a total score of 1-41. The last time they avoided defeat was a 0-0 draw with Germany at EURO 2004.
Although Tuchel has many options in attack, he is still looking for stability in midfield. Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson have started together in all 3 of their most recent matches.
Head-to-head record
This match was the second time Latvia and England have met, after the first time in March this year. At that time, the "Three Lions" won 3-0 at home at Wembley thanks to goals from Reece James, Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze.
Ukraine will become the 72nd country to have played away from home. The "Three Lions" have won all three of their most recent away games against a country, including 3-2 against Slovenia (2015), 3-0 against Lithuania 2015 and 4-0 against Kosovo (2019).
Currently, England is on a 5-match winning streak away from home in all competitions, the best record since November 2008. The last time they won 6 consecutive away matches was from May 1970 to December 2021.
Score prediction: Latvia 1-3 England
The match between Latvia and England takes place at 1:45 am on October 15 (Vietnam time).
