#england

#england

I haven't spoken with him. Just keep playing football, that's what's most important.

"Well, number nine has already chosen itself, hasn't it? And I would say number seven has already chosen itself with [Bukayo] Saka," the ex-England man said. "Eleven I'd probably go with, I might even go with [Anthony] Gordon, but I know [Marcus] Rashford has had a good season. I'll probably go with Gordon - and 10 is a very difficult one, an extremely difficult one. "

The two which perform best across the three European competitions this season will be handed European Performance Spots (EPS). That means fifth place in the Premier League table could go from being a Europa League place to a ticket into the Champions League - Newcastle benefited this way last season. But will an English club get that reward again? To work out who are the successful nations, Uefa takes into consideration the overall performance of clubs in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.

The England supporters on the hill in front of the heritage-listed scoreboard never gave up and, to their credit, neither did their team. But in the end, despite losing Nathan Lyon to a hamstring injury, it was Australia who prevailed by 82 runs to win this Ashes series with two Tests to spare. Needing just 11 days of play to claim an unassailable 3-0 lead, Pat Cummins and his men equalled Steve Waugh's sides in 2001 and 2002/03 for the fastest Ashes wins.

England fans won't have to pull all-nighters to watch their team in the group stages of the World Cup following today's confirmation of the kick-off times. The Three Lions were yesterday drawn in Group L alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama and the start times have now been revealed. Thomas Tuchel's side will open their account against Croatia - the team that beat them in the 2018 semi-finals - in Dallas on June 17 with a 4pm ET kick-off, which is 9pm in the UK.

Croatia are the highest-ranked potential Pot 2 opponents (10th) and reached the final and the semi-finalis at the past two World Cups respectively but, with a maximum of two European teams in each group, drawing them would eliminate for England the possibility of facing Erling Haaland's Norway, who are in Pot 3, or Italy, who are in Pot 4, if the four-time champions get through the playoffs in March.

Marcus Rashford was back in action on Sunday for England against Albania and delivered another assist in a victory for the Three Lions in their final World Cup qualifier. England were leading 1-0 when Rashford arrived on 75 minutes as a substitute for Jarrod Bowen. The Barcelona loanee then needed just seven minutes to deliver an assist for Harry Kane. Rashford sent in a superb ball from the left for Kane to nod home his second of the night.

"I didn't speak a single word about that," Tuchel said when asked if he was using the possible achievement as motivation going into England's final qualifier. "We need to get the foundation right to have a chance to have these records. "Just by thinking about it or by talking about it, nothing will change. "We need to deliver again. The feeling and the trust is absolutely there because I witnessed this in camp. I trust my players to perform again."

Another international, another impressive performance so far from Elliot Anderson. Only his fifth England appearance, already looks so at home, surely Tuchel's starting No 6 at the World Cup. Good in possession. Taking ball from Pickford, calmly passing through the Serbian press.