Essential Football

Essential Football: England’s final World Cup warm-up, questions for Southgate, Nations League relegation?

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Episode notes

Ahead of England’s final games ahead of November’s World Cup opener, Essential Football looks forward to the Three Lions taking on Italy and Germany as they look to avoid relegation from the top tier of the Nations League.

Ron Walker and Peter Smith are joined by Sky Sports News’ Rob Dorsett to discuss how much the pressure has risen on Gareth Southgate in 14 short months since the Euro 2022 final, where his biggest squad headaches are and how he approaches the two Nations League matches, with a number of his first-choice players not featuring for their clubs.

Sky Sports digital football writers Adam Bate and Sam Blitz then join the party with their England XIs as we debate who should be in Southgate’s line-up to face Iran in two months time.