England resumed 2026 World Cup qualifying action under Thomas Tuchel on Saturday evening, taking on underdogs Andorra at Barcelona's RCDE Stadium. The Three Lions already top Group K, while their hosts are bottom of the table with no points from their first two games.

Two wins, five goals and no goals conceded, Tuchel's first international window as England manager could hardly have gone any smoother, although some might have called for the German to leave if the Three Lions hadn't picked up six points out of a possible six in March. Albania and Latvia both came to Wembley in an attempt to derail Tuchel's inauguration, but after Miles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane beat the former international, Bayern Munich's talisman scored again alongside Jarrod Bowen and Eberechi Eze to beat Latvia 3-0.

To some, Tuchel's new-look England team may be able to achieve more impressive victories, but for the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach, the only statistic that really matters is that his team is firmly at the top of Group K, where only first place can guarantee qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

Tuchel inherited Lee Carsley's job at the end of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League, and the 2024 European Championship runner-up team has now won five consecutive games in all competitions, scoring at least two goals in each victory and keeping clean sheets in the last three games. Since being defeated by Slovenia in the final game of the 2024 European Championship group stage, Saturday's visitors have scored in 12 consecutive games, and it will be a disaster for Tuchel, the Champions League champions, if they cannot continue this weekend.

Andorra will face a difficult task, having been the scapegoat and currently sitting bottom of Group K, and even the most ardent of Tricolor fans will not be optimistic about a team that is making its first major tournament appearance.

The world's 173rd-ranked nation failed to replicate England's feats against Latvia and Albania in their first 2025 matches, losing 1-0 to Latvia before being beaten 3-0 by Albania, with a brace from Rey Manaj and a header from Mirto Uzuni changing the scoreline. Andorra is ranked below Serbia on goal difference, a team that has yet to even play a single qualifier this year - the two teams actually meet on June 10 - and the results are grim for Cordo Alvarez's side.

In fact, Andorra has only won one of their last 25 games, a friendly against weaker San Marino in October, and has failed to score in their next four games since then. So it was no surprise to learn that Andorra had lost all of their previous six competitive games against England, who had scored multiple goals in each game and had yet to concede a single goal to the underdogs.

Andorra predicted starting lineup:

Alvarez; Bora, San Nicolas, Llofra, Oliveira, M. Garcia; Rodrigo, Valles, Barbot, Chervos; Fernandez

England predicted starting lineup:

Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Konsa, Colwell, Lewis-Skelly; Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Palmer, Gordon; Kane