Latvia 0-5 England result - Three Lions confirm place at 2026 World Cup thanks to Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze goals

England are yet to have a shot on target as Gordon fires over the bar, while Latvia have only had 29% possession and all of their players have spent most of the game in their own half.

It's already that kind of game.

How hasn't he been penalised for that? Saka combines with Spence on the right side but Latvia hold their shape well and clear the eventual cross to the edge of the box.

There Lewis-Skelly is caught in two minds as Roberts Varslavans rushes up and when he does take action he misses the ball entirely, kicking the Latvian and somehow escaping a booking.

Anthony Gordon finds space on the left and crosses to Kane who's dropped off the backline around eight yards out.

The low ball is a nice height for the captain but arrives very quickly and he can't steer it the right side of the post.

The England fans are even further from the pitch than Saka was offside for that goal, but have already made their voices heard after Thomas Tuchel called them out earlier this week.

Renditions of "Our support could use a bit" (or something like that), "Are we loud enough for you" and "We'll sing when we want" ring out in Riga while on the pitch, England have assumed control.

England play it forward to Bukayo Saka who's ghosted in behind the defensive line, squares it to Harry Kane and they look like they're ahead already!

Unfortunately, Saka was a mile offside so it's chalked off.

And we're underway! England are immediately into attack mode.

Well it's the longest national anthem I've ever heard at a sporting event. The sombre yet enchanting tune follows God Save the King and with that we're ready to go!

I’m somewhat ashamed to say I’ve never heard a rendition of ‘Dievs, svētī Latviju’ (translation: ‘God bless Latvia’) but that will change imminently, as the players have already exited the tunnel - this traditional anthem was banned under the Soviet occupation.

For England the mission is simple: win, avoid injury and get out of here.

Given Latvia played a back five at home to Andorra - the 174th-ranked team in the world and fourth-worst in UEFA - expect them to set up in a pretty defensive shape again today. Luckily, England have a very attacking full-back pairing.

Nicolato made three half-time changes at half time last time out against Andorra withdrawing - Raivis Andris Jurkovskis, Aleksejs Saveljevs and Atletico Madrid B team player Dario Sits, for Janis Ikaunieks, Roberts Veips and Lukass Vapne.

All three of those new additions feature as Sits drops to the bench but Jurkovskis remains in the starting side today - Roberts Savalnieks misses out instead as Latvia welcome England for the first time.

Latvia (5-4-1): Zviedris; Jurkovskis, Vapne, Cernomordijs, Balodis, Ciganiks; Zelenkovs, Varslavans, Veips, Ikaunieks; Gutkovskis.

Harry Kane and Myles Lewis-Skelly are the two changes to the teamsheet with Ollie Watkins out after colliding with the post and Marc Guehi pushed to the bench.

That means Ezri Konsa moves into the centre of defence to partner John Stones, and Djed Spence swaps flanks to right-back to shield the goal of Jordan Pickford, who looks set to sign a long-term contract extension with Everton.

Eberechi Eze, Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly all missed it out against Latvia and are on the bench again today while Jarrell Quansah withdrew from the squad as a precautionary measure with no replacement drafted in.

Interestingly when we asked you England fans earlier this week, you wanted to start Eze and Burn...

England (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Spence, Konsa, Stones, Lewis-Skelly; Anderson, Rice; Saka, Rogers, Gordon; Watkins.

It’s getting to crunch time in World Cup qualifying, and tonight marks the last round of fixtures before players return to their clubs ahead of the final international break of 2025, in mid-November.

England are the only British side in action tonight while the Republic of Ireland face Armenia and simply must win if they’re to have any chance of reaching their first World Cup since 2002. Portugal host Hungary in the other Group F game and if Cristiano Ronaldo and co. can hammer their visitors then Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side will be in with a chance.

We happen have a live blog of that one and Spain's game tonight too for your please. In other news, all the usual European suspects are on track to qualify directly for the big dance except Italy (if they can still be called a usual suspect) who will almost certainly have to go through the playoffs.

Results: Scotland 2-1 Belarus, Wales 2-4 Belgium, Northern Ireland 0-1 Germany, Ukraine 2-1

Tonight: Ireland v Armenia, Portugal v Hungary, Spain v Bulgaria, Italy v Israel, Andorra v Serbia, Turkiye v Georgia (all 19:45 kick-off UK time).

Latvia gave a good account of themselves at the FIM Speedway of Nations two weeks ago but until football becomes a motorised sport they look set to struggle.

The 11 Wolves were actually on the brink of qualifying for the 1938 World Cup, finishing behind Austria in their qualifying group before Austria’s Anchluss with Germany rendered them ineligible to take part at the tournament in France, but no teams were called up in their place.

A relative powerhouse at that time, Latvia’s international competitiveness was abruptly halted when they were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. They returned in 1992 but after a magical Euro 2004 campaign, they have never come close to hitting the same heights. Yet even by those standards the team is in a rut right now.

They only have two players competing in any of Opta’s top 30 leagues - Andrejs Ciganiks of FC Luzern in Switzerland and Lechia Gdansk’s Alvis Jaunzems - while their manager Paolo Nicolato never played and has spent most of his career in Serie C and the Italian age-group setup.

Latvia also finished bottom of Group C4 in the UEFA Nations League behind North Macedonia, Armenia and the Faore Islands with one win and a draw from six games so will face Gibraltar in a relegation playoff in March.

…Are not that high. Rey Manaj’s strike for Albania was enough to secure victory over Serbia so the Three Lions are in pole position to book their ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

Three points tonight will be enough to give them an unassailable lead in Group K but even if they fail in Riga, they’ll still have ample opportunity to finish the job in their final two group games against Serbia and in Albania.

However, they won't get a second chance to be the first European side to reach the big dance, joining 20 teams already qualified plus the three hosts.

Seven of the Latvian starting side play their football in Latvia, and eight of them started against Andorra...

There are two positional changes to the England starting XI and two different faces in the side that beat Wales 3-0.

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To potentially the final competitive game of the year for England! Thomas Tuchel’s side can book their place at the 2026 World Cup with victory tonight and standing in their way is a team who drew 2-2 with 10-man Andorra last week.

The squad is some way off full strength but still eased to victory against Wales on Thursday and while media expectations are often listed as a factor in the Three Lions’ alleged underperformance, anything other than three points tonight would be a massive disappointment.

Kick-off in Riga is at 19:45 UK time and we’ll bring you all the team news next as Harry Kane returns from injury to replace Ollie Watkins.