England raced into an early lead against Wales on Thursday night as Morgan Rogers fired the Three Lions ahead against the Dragons. Aston Villa teammate Watkins then added England’s second shortly after, before Bukayo Saka bagged a fine third as Thomas Tuchel’s side blitzed Wales early on.
While England were unable to add a fourth, they ran out routine winners at the expense of Craig Bellamy’s side at Wembley. Next up for the national team is a trip to Latvia on Tuesday night as they look to maintain their 100% start to 2026 World Cup qualification.
However, it remains to be seen whether Watkins will play any part for England in Riga next week after he was withdrawn at the break against Wales. Watkins attempted to get onto the end of a cross before sliding at speed into the post.
Watkins attempted to carry on after the nasty collision but was replaced by on-loan Barcelona forward Marcus Rashford for the second half.
It now remains to be seen whether Watkins will be available to face Latvia next week as England look to make it six wins from six in World Cup qualifying. Goals from Reece James, Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze saw the Three Lions cruise to a 3-0 win in the reverse fixture at Wembley earlier this year.
And Watkins would have hoped his goal may have been enough to keep his spot in the side having deputised for the injured Kane at in midweek. Kane missed the 3-0 win against Wales owing to an injury he picked up with Bayern Munich.
“[Kane] got a kick in his last match with Bayern Munich. It was too risky he gets another kick and be in an up and down situation pain-wise. We gave him the chance that everything calms down,” Tuchel said of Kane earlier this week.
Tuchel did also add that the England captain is expected to recover in time for Tuesday’s game in Riga, stating: “We are convinced he’ll be ready for the match against Latvia.”
Kane is looking to maintain his flying start to the season having scored 11 goals and provided a further three assists in the opening six Bundesliga games of the season. The former Tottenham man recently made history having netted 100 goals in just 104 Bayern appearances, the quickest player to reach the milestone in one of Europe’s top five leagues.
And Kane has been England’s top performer in World Cup qualifying having scored four goals in five appearances, a haul he’ll look to add in next week’s game against Latvia.
While some of England’s performances under Tuchel have drawn criticism, the Three Lions are easing through World Cup qualifying. Indeed, England passed their toughest test with flying colours last month as they smashed Serbia 5-0 in Belgrade.
England have scored 13 goals and are yet to concede in their five qualification games to date, a record they’ll look to maintain in Latvia on Tuesday night. Latvia remain in the race for second in Group K ahead of Saturday’s game against Andorra.
Paolo Nicolato’s side are currently just four points behind Albania, who make the tough trip to Serbia this weekend in a bid to close the gap to England to four points.
