England vs Malta live: Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli give Gareth Southgate a winning start
Follow the latest from Wembley Stadium as England begin life under Gareth Southgate
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Your support makes all the difference.England began life under caretaker manager Gareth Southgate with a 2-0 victory over Malta Wembley in their second 2018 World Cup qualifier, having seen former manager Sam Allardyce resign following the investigation into corruption in football. Re-lkive the action here here.
- Match report: England 2 Malta 0
- Daniel Sturridge and Dele Alli score for England
- Joe Hart has just one save to make
- Over 82,000 watch World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium
- Moment of genius shows Sturridge still has plenty to offer
- Five things we learnt
Teams:
England: Hart; Walker, Cahill, Stones, Bertrand; Henderson, Rooney, Alli, Walcott, Sturridge, Lingard.
Subs: Smalling, Forster, Rose, Dier, Keane, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Antonio, Vardy, Rashford, Townsend, Heaton.
Malta: Hogg; Zach Muscat, Agius, Camilleri; Borg, Kristensen, Sciberras, Fenech, Alex Muscat; Schembri, Effiong.
Subs: Zerafa, Failla, Mifsud, Muscat, Pisani, Bonello, Farrugia, Scerri, Scicluna.
Follow the live action below...
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Read more England news:
The strange death of affection for one of England’s great strikers
England should hire Southgate: What more do they have to lose?
England shouldn’t hire Southgate: There’s no need to panic
Roy Keane warns Southgate is much tougher than he looks
England currently sit joint-top of Group F alongside Scotland on three points
Player to watch...
Jesse Lingard. The Manchester United youngster has been handed his first start for the national side and will need to reward Southgate for his show of good faith. Despite being tipped to start, Marcus Rashford finds himself on the bench. Southgate may have missed a trick in opting not to include the 18-year-old in his starting side but Lingard certainly has the talent to deliver.
You'd expect Gareth Southgate's team to run away with it today. Then again, it is England we're talking about...
And here's the Malta team:
Starting XI: Hogg; Zach Muscat, Agius, Camilleri; Borg, Kristensen, Sciberras, Fenech, Alex Muscat; Schembri, Effiong.
Subs: Zerafa, Failla, Mifsud, Muscat, Pisani, Bonello, Farrugia, Scerri, Scicluna.
I wonder if the 'Muscat' trio are related?
Gareth Southgate has his say...
The former Middlesbrough manager has encouraged his side to be "brave with the ball" when they run out against Malta in 25 minutes time.
"I keep hearing keep what English players can't do, but I've seen what they can do," Southgate said yesterday. "I want them to go and show it. I expect us to control the game."
The 46-year-old also urged his players to alleviate the burden of expectancy hanging over captain Wayne Rooney. If England are to be successful then the responsibility of delivering needs to be shared, the manager added.
“We're putting too much emphasis on one person. If these guys are going to be a successful team, that's got to be shared," he said.
“These guys have to be given the opportunity to lead, to grow even if it's not a comfortable situation. They have to take responsibility. All 11 guys on the field will succeed if they do as well as they can together.”
Gareth Southgate speaking at Friday's press conference
79 min: Positioned with the ball inside the box, Jesse Lingard had the time and the angle to take a shot on goal but, rather amazingly, opted for an attempted cross to the back post which ended up sailing out for a goal-kick. Wasted opportunity.
81 min: Malta with a free-kick in a dangerous area. It's drifted to the far right-hand side post, over the heads of England's two centre-backs, and falls favourably to Malta's Fenech who catches the ball nicely on the volley. It's fired low and hard to Joe Hart's left but the Torino keeper (that's weird to type...) shakes off the cobwebs and gets down to meet it. Malta corner.
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