England lineup to face France leaked ahead of World Cup quarter-final
By Tom Gott
Gareth Southgate is expected to name an unchanged England lineup for Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against France.
The Three Lions booked their place in the last eight with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Senegal, with goals from Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka securing a date with the reigning World champions.
The Telegraph report that Southgate will make no changes to his team, sticking with the same lineup and formation to face France.
It means England will line up with a back four, with Southgate declining to revert to a three-man defence to deal with Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Golden Boot frontrunner Kylian Mbappe.
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One of Southgate's biggest decisions revolved around the involvement of Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling, who was expected to start against Senegal but instead flew back to England following a burglary at his family home.
Sterling has since returned to the squad and Southgate has confirmed he will be involved against France, although declined to reveal just what role Chelsea's summer signing would be given.
That being said, the England boss did reveal that he had decided on his lineup by the start of the week.
"We decided on Monday," he confessed. "We’d already watched by Monday night all the games of France, we’d already reviewed our game from Senegal. So we’re very clear on the right path because then you’ve got to deliver that through the week. We’re comfortable with where we’re at."
England leaked lineup vs France
(4-3-3): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Rice, Bellingham, Henderson; Saka, Kane, Foden.