Time for the anthems, each led by a child. The England players just about remember to sing “king” not “queen”.
Gareth Southgate is talking to Channel 4. “First, we’ve got to win the game… They’ll be stubborn opponents tonight.”
Was it difficult to pick the right team? “Not so difficult. The players have been excellent, really focused.”
What does he want to see from Trent Alexander-Arnold? “Just what he does every week for his club, really. He’s a fabulous player with the ball, and his range of passing and his vision could give us something different, so we’re excited to see it… What is going to be different is the out-of-possession. It’s a different intensity in midfield, different angles of approach, but he’s an intelligent boy. The real key is to try and get him in the areas where he’s been with his club, centrally. And he’s so dangerous in those wider areas too, so we want him to have that freedom.”
Malta play two strikers and one of them is Jodi Jones, who, in his other role as a wing-back, was among Notts County’s heroes when they won promotion to the Football League.
Malta (3-5-2ish) Bonello; Apap, S Borg (capt), Attard; Mbong, Guillaumier, Teuma, Kristensen, Z Muscat; Nwoko, Jones.
Subs: M Grech, Debono, Camenzuli, K Shaw, J Grech, Satariano, Corbalan, N Muscat, Degabriele, Yankam, Dimech, J Borg.
As widely expected, Trent Alexander-Arnold is picked in midfield for the second time in a stop-start England career. Last time he started there, against Andorra in 2021, he stopped after 45 minutes. Will he last longer tonight? And is this move needed, given that he now plays half in midfield when named at right-back? We shall see.
England (4-3-3ish) Pickford; Trippier, Gu?hi, Maguire, L Shaw; Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Henderson; Saka, Kane (capt), Maddison.
Subs: Ramsdale, Johnstone, Walker, Stones, Mings, Phillips, Gallagher, Foden, Eze, Wilson, Grealish, Rashford.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of England’s Euro qualifier in Malta. And it’s not just the host nation that is the underdog here. Spare a thought for football itself, gamely doing its best to struggle along in the shadow of the Ashes. Even tonight’s crowd will be left in the shade by the cricket – there will be 17,000 people in the Ta’ Qali National Stadium, as against 25,000 on a rip-roaring day at Edgbaston.
For England’s footballers, this should be a freebie. If you can see off Italy and Ukraine, you can surely marmalise Malta … except that sport doesn’t work like that. And Malta, once the whipping boys of Europe, have gradually become quite hard to thrash.
They haven’t conceded more than twice in any of their past seven games, and have even won two of them (beating Israel 2-1 and Luxembourg 1-0, both in friendlies). Their Euro qualifiers have ended in defeat but not in disgrace, with a 1-2 away to North Macedonia followed by a 0-2 at home to Italy. That said, their record in Euro qualifiers is played 112, won 4, drawn 14, lost 88. So yes, England are firm favourites.
Gareth Southgate has now been in his job so long that this is his third meeting with Malta. Last time he was there, in 2017, he had to listen to England’s travelling supporters singing “We’re fucking shit,” a refrain that continued even after four second-half goals turned a banana skin into a breeze. This time, the fans may be a bit more on his side.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST (8.45pm in Malta) and I’ll be back about 55 minutes before that with the teams.
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