England begin their quest for Euro 2024 glory against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday evening.
Gareth Southgate’s team arrive in Germany as one of the favourites to lift the trophy in a month’s time, despite a dismal defeat by Iceland at Wembley in their last appearance, and they will be desperate to lay down a marker in Group C with an opening win.
England are considering starting Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield alongside Declan Rice, while Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi is in line to start his first major tournament match next to John Stones, in the absence of the injured Harry Maguire.
Southgate’s side may be the favourites, but Serbia are a dangerous team with talent in their ranks including Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic, Al Hilal duo Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Fenerbahce’s No 10, Dusan Tadic.
Here is everything you need to know about the Euro 2024 game.
When is England v Serbia?
The Group C match kicks-off at 8pm BST on Sunday, at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen.
How to watch
England v Serbia will be broadcast live on BBC One, with the programme beginning at 7pm.
Licence fee payers can stream the match online via the BBC’s iPlayer app and website.
ITV’s highlights show is scheduled for 11.20pm on itv1, while BBC One will show a full replay of the game at 12.45am.
You can find a full list of which channel is showing each match here.
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Team news
England are expected to be without Luke Shaw as the Manchester United left-back continues his recovery from a hamstring injury, but he could be an option from the bench after taking part in team training this week sooner than expected. Kieran Trippier will fill in on the left side of defence in Shaw’s absence.
John Stones has recovered from the minor illness which kept him out of training earlier this week. Jude Bellingham was given a week off after Real Madrid’s Champions League win and missed both of England’s warm-up matches, but is expected to be thrown straight back into action after joining up with the camp this week.
Serbia could line-up with both Dusan Vlahovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic in attack, in a possible 3-5-2 formation.
Predicted line-ups
England (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Alexander-Arnold, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Foden; Kane.
Serbia (3-5-2): V Milinkovic-Savic; Milenkovic, Veljkovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, S Milinkovic-Savic, Tadic, Lukic, Kostic; Mitrovic, Vlahovic.
Odds
England 4/9
Draw 7/2
Serbia 6/1
Prediction
Serbia are a decent side and could cause England plenty of problems, but the sheer quality in Gareth Southgate’s starting XI should be enough to clinch an opening win. We’ll go for Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka on the scoresheet. England 2-1 Serbia.
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