Three and Easy for England

England have the chance to seal a last 16 spot, while Panama’s first appearance at a World Cup Finals looks set to be a brief one unless they can muster up at least a point in Nizhny Novgorod.

Guilty of spurning a host of good chances early on against Tunisia, England eventually got themselves out of jail on Monday evening with a stoppage time winner from, who else, but skipper and goalmachine, Harry Kane.

Southgate’s troops are heavy favourites in this international mismatch

With a win in the bag and first game nerves now out of the way, the Three Lions will be relishing the prospect of facing World Cup debutants, Panama, who come into this on the back of a thumping defeat against Belgium and, from first viewing, appear to possess little in the way of quality to trouble England.

Southgate’s troops are heavy favourites in this international mismatch and will have to respond positively to the pressure and expectation that comes automatically when playing a minnow, you only have to look as far back as two years when England were heavily fancied to beat Iceland in that respect.

Yet, the England of 2018 has come on from leaps and bounds since that debacle and certainly appear to have more purpose to their play and a cohesiveness unseen for some time. It remains to be seen how far this carries them into the tournament but the start has been a positive one from this new, vibrant England side.

Team news

A thigh injury is likely to keep Dele Alli out but the encouraging cameo appearance from Rubus Loftus-Cheek when he replaced the Spurs man, is thought to have done enough to see him entrusted with a start here. Another option to compensate for the expected loss of Alli may see Marcus Rashford brought into the attack with Raheem Sterling dropping back. Danny Rose could be in line to replace Ashley Young at LWB, the ability for Rose to cross with his natural left foot potentially more appealing than Young having to cut back all of the time.

The Central Americans were outclassed in their first game, going down to three unanswered goals to group favourites, Belgium, though they did at least make Dries Martens and Romelu Lukaku wait until the second half to get on the scoresheet.

With many predicting a glut of goals considering the gulf in class between the two, Panama were by no means disgraced but head into their next assignment against England, needing to avoid defeat to stay in the tournament.

It’s certainly a baptism of fire for Panama at their first ever World Cup finals.

They’ll take comfort from holding Belgium for as long as they did and will look to carry the same gameplan into this encounter with the English, who perhaps lack the array of potential matchwinners European counterparts possess and could struggle to break down a committed rearguard.

This said, Panama will be up against it and could be chasing shadows for most of the afternoon with their opposition all comfortable at moving the ball at a quick pace.

Don’t be surprised then to see Marea Roja persist with their robust approach and go out to ‘ruffle a few feathers’, so to speak, just like the Belgium match where they received five yellow cards in total for their physicality.

Team News

Manager Hernán Darío Gómez appears to have no injury concerns so Panama should line up at full strength come kick off. The five players booked (Murillo, Davis, Bárcenas, Cooper, Godoy) will all likely retain their place but could be sacrificed late on if the match is beyond repair, with the final group game against Tunisia a realistic chance for them to claim their first World Cup points.

Match Tip

It’s hard to see anything other than England picking up their second successive win, though Panama will make them work for it, as they did Belgium. Scoring early should see England grow in confidence and with every chance of matching or even bettering the efforts of Roberto Martinez’s men.

Bet England to win 3-0 on Betfair