England predicted line-up vs. Finland: Three changes with Saka a doubt and Kane set for return

The latest England team news and predicted line-up for Finland featuring updates on Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane.

England will hope to put their dreadful 2-1 defeat to Greece behind them when they take on Finland in Helsinki this Sunday in the Nations League – and it’s highly unlikely that Lee Carsley will repeat his failed experiment with a hyper-attacking system which saw almost all of England’s best forwards and creative midfielders take to the field at the same time.

They may also be boosted by the return of Harry Kane, who failed to recover from an apparent thigh injury in time to play at Wembley on Thursday but who has been training separately from the group and could be ready to play at least some part. Jack Grealish, who was also deemed unfit to play, could come back into contention as well.

Carsley will, however, have to sweat over the fitness of Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, who limped off early in the second half of the game against Greece thanks to a hamstring injury. He will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s match. We’ve got all of the latest team news below, along with our predicted line-up for the game against Finland.

So poor was first-choice goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s performance against Greece that he may have opened the door for Carsley to look at an alternative, which would most likely be Newcastle United’s Nick Pope, although Pickford probably remains the favourite to start what has become a must-win match.

There are no known fitness concerns in defence but Marc Guéhi could come back into contention having missed out on Thursday. Levi Colwill have a chance to play at left-back if England’s interim head coach wants to see how England line-up with a left-footed player in that position, while Tino Livramento, a late call-up to the squad, is the other obvious option to replace Rico Lewis, who didn’t have his best game at Wembley.

Midfield
Carsley played with a double pivot in both of his first two matches in charge of the senior side and despite the absence of Kobbie Mainoo, who was one of three players to withdraw from the squad due to fitness concerns, it seems probably that he will return to a more conservative midfield set-up after the shapeless showing against the Greeks.

Angel Gomes, Conor Gallagher and Curtis Jones are the obvious candidates to play alongside Declan Rice, although Jude Bellingham could play in a deeper role should Carsley prefer to start a player like Grealish or Phil Foden further forward.

Forwards
Kane will likely start if available, but should he fail a fitness test then it’s more than likely that Carsley will try either Dominic Solanke or Ollie Watkins out in the number nine role. Bellingham, who played as a false nine against Greece, is the other option.

Should Saka not make it, then Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke are the alternatives on the right wing, and Carsley may want to take a look at England’s newly-minted Men’s Player of the Year on the right.

Pope; Colwill, Guéhi, Stones, Alexander-Arnold; Rice, Bellingham, Foden; Gordon, Palmer, Kane.