England extended their flawless record in World Cup qualifying with a seventh successive victory as Serbia were beaten at Wembley.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel is now able to fine-tune his plans after the Three Lions confirmed their place last month in next summer’s showpiece with two games to spare, and this was a low-key affair on a rain-soaked evening.
Tuchel gave a first senior cap to Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly at left-back, but it was one of England’s established stars who made the breakthrough, Bukayo Saka scoring after 28 minutes with a perfectly placed left-foot volley beyond Serbia keeper Predrag Rajkovic.
Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers was selected ahead of Jude Bellingham in the number 10 role and displayed plenty of energy and some nice touches before being replaced by his boyhood friend after 65 minutes.
Phil Foden also came on as substitute at the same time, and he combined with Bellingham to set up another replacement, Eberechi Eze, for a superb curling finish to wrap up England’s win in the last minute.
Serbia mounted the occasional threat in the second half, but England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was able to extend his record run of clean sheets to 10, while Tuchel’s side have now scored 20 goals without reply in their successful qualifying campaign.
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It was inevitable that England’s meeting with Serbia would lack a sense of jeopardy with World Cup qualification assured, but Tuchel will still have been left with increasing confidence about the forthcoming World Cup following this win.
The sight of Bellingham and Foden emerging from the bench after 65 minutes, along with goalscoring substitute Eze, was another demonstration of the depth of talent at Tuchel’s disposal as he shapes his final World Cup plans.
Rogers, Marcus Rashford and Elliot Anderson had all made their contributions, while Crystal Palace’s outstanding young midfielder Adam Wharton, on as a late substitute, finally got more minutes for England for the first time since June 2024.
This has been a hugely satisfying qualifying campaign for Tuchel and England, gathering momentum exactly as he would have wished before the final qualifier in Albania on Sunday.
Saka once again showed the class that makes him a certain World Cup pick with a spectacular finish to open the scoring, with Arsenal team-mate Eze also providing a stylish final flourish to erase any doubts about the result.
Debutant O’Reilly made an accomplished start while, at the other end of the scale, captain Harry Kane may not have got on the scoresheet but showed his hunger still burns, even producing a tackle on the edge of his own area to snuff out a rare Serbian threat.
And in goal, Pickford continues to set records with another shutout, meaning England have still to concede a goal in qualifying.
All in all, Tuchel can head to Tirana in buoyant mood.