Iceland v England Preview: Can Gareth Southgate’s side win their Nations League opener?

England will be without some of their usual superstars for this Group A2 clash, but that doesn’t mean the squad is down on quality.

With many England stars, younger and older, enjoying such successful Premier League campaigns, Gareth Southgate has been somewhat spoilt for choice when it comes to his squad selection.

Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Harry Winks have all withdrawn from the squad for different reasons.

Southgate has replaced them with three uncapped players in the form of Conor Coady, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Jack Grealish, and it’s hard to argue against any of their calls being justified.

Maguire’s absence could leave Southgate with a selection headache though, with Joe Gomez, Eric Dier, Tyrone Mings, Michael Keane and Coady fighting it out for those central defensive places.

There’s no natural left back included in the squad too due to injuries to both Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell. That could see Kyle Walker fill in down the left, with Maitland-Niles experienced in that role too after showing his versatility at Arsenal.

Elsewhere, the starting spot between the sticks is up for debate too. Jordan Pickford has been considered England’s number one most recently, but his poor season for Everton may mean both Nick Pope and Dean Henderson have moved in front of him after their magnificent seasons.

As for Iceland, they’ll be without a few of their star players too. Both Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson and Burnley’s Johann Berg Gudmundsson made themselves unavailable for these qualifying games, with one eye on preparations for the Premier League.

They’ll also be missing captain Aron Gunnarsson after he was faced with travel restrictions from Qatar, where he plays for Al-Arabi.

In that famous 2-1 win, Ragnar Sigurdsson claimed the Icelandic equaliser to set them on their way, but they’ll be without Copenhagen’s defender here. Augsburg’s Alfred Finnbogason also misses the match.

Their high-profile absences make their task even harder than before, with England on a three-match winning streak, scoring 17 without reply in that time.

Southgate and co. could use this as an opportunity to put out a warning to the rest of those teams in the group, and across the Nations League. Without a trophy since that famous World Cup win in 1966, could this be England’s best chance to end that 54-year drought?

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