Preview: England face Wales in Wembley ‘friendly’ShareEngland and Wales take a short interlude from World Cup qualifying as the two rivals meet in an international friendly at Wembley on Thursday evening.By Ross KilvingtonBoth nations have started their qualifying campaigns off solidly. England have won all five of their fixtures so far, scoring 13 goals and conceding zero as they bid to reach an eighth successive World Cup.Wales currently occupy third place in Group J, however, they have only lost once in five matches and sit just one point behind leaders North Macedonia.Craig Bellamy will be looking to snap Wales’ seven game winless streak against England, a run that stretches all the way back to 1984.Indeed, since a 2-1 victory over England in the British Home Championship in 1955, Wales have defeated their rivals on just three occasions – 1977, 1980 and 1984.Team newsReece James was forced to withdraw from the England squad on Monday after sustaining an injury during Chelsea’s win over Liverpool at the weekend.Noni Madueke and Tino Livramento are both sidelined because of injury, but Declan Rice will be fit, despite limping off against West Ham last week.Thomas Tuchel left out Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden from his latest squad, sparking rumours that there was perhaps a rift between the German and Bellingham.He was quick to dispel that, however, stating that he had no issue with the Real Madrid midfielder: “To make it fully clear, we can have the same harmony, the same level of performance with him.”There is no such controversy in the Wales squad. Bellamy will be without influential figure Aaron Ramsey due to injury. Elsewhere, winger Dan James is also absent from the squad.Aside from that, there are no further injury issues.Wales will have one eye on Belgium clashWhile Bellamy will be looking to seal a historic victory at Wembley, the manager surely has one eye on the qualifying tie against Belgium just four days later.A victory against the Belgians could give the nation a major boost in their chances of qualifying for back-to-back World Cups.Will Bellamy sacrifice the chance to get one over on England in order to secure three points on Monday evening? Only time will tell.Tuchel eyes further progress with EnglandSafe to say, the German didn’t enjoy the most productive of starts with England. Across his first five matches, England scored just nine goals and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Senegal in June.Since then, England have defeated Andorra, before putting in their finest performance yet under Tuchel, with a sublime 5-0 win over Serbia in Belgrade.Another positive display against Wales will further demonstrate that perhaps Tuchel is the right man to guide England to silverware next summer at the World Cup.PredictionWhile both teams have more important games on the horizon, Wales’ clash with Belgium holds more significance compared to England’s match against Latvia.As such, expect the home side to secure a relatively straightforward 2-0 win at Wembley.(Cover image from IMAGO)You can follow every World Cup qualifier on FotMob in the build up to the 2026 finals – with in-depth stat coverage, including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.Preview: England face Wales in Wembley ‘friendly’England and Wales take a short interlude from World Cup qualifying as the two rivals meet in an international friendly at Wembley on Thursday evening.By Ross KilvingtonBoth nations have started their qualifying campaigns off solidly. England have won all five of their fixtures so far, scoring 13 goals and conceding zero as they bid to reach an eighth successive World Cup.Wales currently occupy third place in Group J, however, they have only lost once in five matches and sit just one point behind leaders North Macedonia.Craig Bellamy will be looking to snap Wales’ seven game winless streak against England, a run that stretches all the way back to 1984.Indeed, since a 2-1 victory over England in the British Home Championship in 1955, Wales have defeated their rivals on just three occasions – 1977, 1980 and 1984.Team newsReece James was forced to withdraw from the England squad on Monday after sustaining an injury during Chelsea’s win over Liverpool at the weekend.Noni Madueke and Tino Livramento are both sidelined because of injury, but Declan Rice will be fit, despite limping off against West Ham last week.Thomas Tuchel left out Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden from his latest squad, sparking rumours that there was perhaps a rift between the German and Bellingham.He was quick to dispel that, however, stating that he had no issue with the Real Madrid midfielder: “To make it fully clear, we can have the same harmony, the same level of performance with him.”There is no such controversy in the Wales squad. Bellamy will be without influential figure Aaron Ramsey due to injury. Elsewhere, winger Dan James is also absent from the squad.Aside from that, there are no further injury issues.Wales will have one eye on Belgium clashWhile Bellamy will be looking to seal a historic victory at Wembley, the manager surely has one eye on the qualifying tie against Belgium just four days later.A victory against the Belgians could give the nation a major boost in their chances of qualifying for back-to-back World Cups.Will Bellamy sacrifice the chance to get one over on England in order to secure three points on Monday evening? Only time will tell.Tuchel eyes further progress with EnglandSafe to say, the German didn’t enjoy the most productive of starts with England. Across his first five matches, England scored just nine goals and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Senegal in June.Since then, England have defeated Andorra, before putting in their finest performance yet under Tuchel, with a sublime 5-0 win over Serbia in Belgrade.Another positive display against Wales will further demonstrate that perhaps Tuchel is the right man to guide England to silverware next summer at the World Cup.PredictionWhile both teams have more important games on the horizon, Wales’ clash with Belgium holds more significance compared to England’s match against Latvia.As such, expect the home side to secure a relatively straightforward 2-0 win at Wembley.(Cover image from IMAGO)You can follow every World Cup qualifier on FotMob in the build up to the 2026 finals – with in-depth stat coverage, including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.