England welcomed Switzerland to Wembley for an international friendly that offered Gareth Southgate's side a chance to gel further before the Qatar World Cup later this year.
The Three Lions ran out 2-1 victors but were made to work hard for their victory as the Swiss outfit made it as difficult as possible.
After a quiet start, it was the visitors who opened the scoring when Breel Embolo exploited Ben White’s misjudgement of a Xherdan Shaqiri cross to head Switzerland into the lead.
Minutes later and England could have been two goals down had Jordan Pickford not parried Fabian Frei's effort onto the crossbar.
The scores were level on the stroke of half-time as Phil Foden’s harrying paid dividends with England winning the ball back in a dangerous area and equalising via a thunderous Luke Shaw strike that had shades of his goal in the Euro 2020 final.
Most of the second period passed by with little to note, before Harry Kane broke the lull to put England in the lead from the penalty spot.
Harry Kane levels Sir Bobby Charlton’s record
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England’s number nine did what Gary Lineker couldn’t and turn 48 Three Lions goals into 49 with a second-half spot-kick.
The goal means Kane is now level with Sir Bobby Charlton’s tally for country and only Wayne Rooney stands between the Tottenham talisman and the status of England’s record goal-scorer.
In truth, Kane did not enjoy his strongest outing and was quiet for much of the contest but stepped up when it mattered most to lash home from 12 yards after Steven Zubar was adjudged to have handled the ball following a lengthy VAR review.
Kane is surely nailed on to eventually surpass Rooney's record of 53 goals and take his place as England's greatest ever goal scorer.
Pickford picks his moment
With doubt and speculation surrounding his status as England’s number one, Pickford went some way to answering his critics with a faultless performance in front of the Wembley faithful.
His club form has been mixed at best, but that is largely in part to Everton ’s struggles as a collective rather than regular glaring errors from Pickford himself.
Aaron Ramsdale’s meteoric rise with Arsenal has meant many have called for Pickford to be ousted from his position in place of the 23-year-old, but the Toffees goalkeeper reminded many as to why Southgate is such a fan.
Pickford got down well early on to thwart a Granit Xhaka effort that was bound for his bottom-right corner and parried another onto the bar minutes later.
Qatar is on the horizon and while the league season surely still has some twists and turns yet, Pickford is well-placed to maintain his position as his countries first-choice shot-stopper.
Conor Gallagher impresses again
The Chelsea loanee has been in inspired form all season for Crystal Palace and showed little signs of slowing down in an England shirt against the Swiss.
During the game’s opening exchanges, it was Gallagher spearheading most Three Lions attacks – constantly driving his side forward and finding pockets of space on the huge Wembley pitch.
The 22-year-old is a valuable asset to any side keen on pressing their opposition, with Gallagher’s tireless running a constant thorn in the side of the Switzerland squad.
Gallagher got an assist to his name with England’s first, as his teasing pass across the edge of the Switzerland penalty area was deliberately left by Mason Mount before Shaw lashed home in the same end as that memorable goal against Italy.
He was eventually replaced by West Ham star Declan Rice just after the hour mark but can be delighted with his display.
New look defence
Where Harry Maguire and John Stones have so often stood in the heart of the Three Lions defence was now occupied by Benjamin White and Marc Guehi.
The £50million Arsenal man and Crystal Palace star both took up their positions either side of Wolves stalwart Conor Coady to make up a much-changed England backline.
Both White and Guehi are notably comfortably in possession and showed that early on with some neat passes while being harried under pressure, but the former was caught under the ball for Switzerland’s opener as Embolo nodded beyond Jordan Pickford.
His trademark long-range passing came into play for the hosts first sight of goal as it started a move that ended with Conor Gallagher forcing the firs corner of the evening.
White wasn’t originally named in Southgate’s starting line-up, but an injury to Stones in the warm-up presented the in-form Gunners star with a chance to recreate his recent club heroics for country.
Harry Maguire’s dismal recent showings for Manchester United may have played a part in Southgate’s decision to leave the Red Devils skipper on the bench.
Mixed bag of England auditions
The game saw a number of players so rarely capped by their country be given a chance to show what they can do, but not all of them seized their chance.
White’s error for the first marred an otherwise solid display, though Gallagher was one of England’s most forward-thinking players.
Marc Guehi had plenty to think about but handled most of what was thrown at him comfortably, while Kyle Walker-Peters was relentless in his quest to offer some attacking threat down that right flank.
Tyrick Mitchell was also granted a debut just before the hour mark as the Crystal Palace left-back replaced goal-scorer Shaw.
The debate surrounding who should earn the number one shirt in Qatar rages on, but with Aaron Ramsdale out injured Pickford kept England in the tie with multiple stellar stops during a first-half that saw Switzerland take aim at his goal nine times.
