Lee Carsley has confirmed that Harry Kane and Jack Grealish are both set to return for England’s crunch Nations League clash with Finland.
Kane and Grealish missed the 2-1 defeat by Greece at Wembley on Thursday as England played without a recognised striker for the first time in their history.
But interim Three Lions boss Carsley has confirmed the pair are fit to face Finland and admitted he would be reverting to a more familiar formation.
“We trained yesterday and Harry and Jack both got through the session so we’re in a good position,” he said in a pre-match press conference in Helsinki on Saturday.
“I think it’s important we freshen the team up a little bit but we feel confident we are in a good place.”
On playing without a striker, he said: “I think it’s something I’ll look back on in two to three months and be better for it. I wanted to give this job my best shot for the three camps and didn’t want to have any regrets.
“It’s important that we do try something different at times and I think I’ll be a better coach for that but I think we’ll be a bit more conventional tomorrow night.”
Angel Gomes, Marc Guehi and Kyle Walker are also pushing to come into the team. Guehi will return at centre-back alongside John Stones and there have been indications that Trent Alexander-Arnold is in line to start as an inverted left-back.
When asked to clarify his comments about ‘hopefully’ returning to his previous role as England Under-21s coach, Carsley said: “Hopefully is a word and a phrase I used quite a bit.
“There’s no guarantees in life including tomorrow and it’s a job with the Under-21s that I’m really proud of and massively invested in, but I know there’s no guarantees.
“But the plan is the same - give this job for the three camps the best that I can do along with the rest of the staff and hopefully we can be in a good position.”
On the increased scrutiny on his position following the defeat to Greece, Carsley added: “Well I think it’s always tough, the scrutiny that we are under. It’s nothing that I’m not used to having been a professional footballer for such a long time but the reaction is fair enough.
“You have to respect people’s opinions. We didn’t perform as well as we can on the night and I would expect a reaction tomorrow night.”
