England overcame Malta in their latest Euro 2024 qualifier with a comfortable 4-0 victory.
Eyebrows were raised before kick off when Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate named Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right side of midfield but his tactics paid off as Alexander-Arnold scored the goal of the night with a long range effort.
An own goal and two penalties, one from Harry Kane and one from Callum Wilson helped England preserve their 100% record in Euro 2024 qualifying as they comfortably won the game.
Kane's penalty also saw him become the first player to score 50 competitive goals for England as he broke yet another England record.
Story of the Match
The most notable member of the starting eleven for Malta in this game was Notts County winger Jodi Jones. In addition, Bjorn Kristiansen of Hibernian started the game for Malta manager Michele Marcolini.
With the game falling right in the middle of the summer break, England manager Gareth Southgate was always likely to surprise fans with his team selection and that was certainly the case.
Most notably, Southgate picked Liverpool full back Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right hand side of midfield wearing the number ten shirt with none of the treble winning Manchester City quartet named in the starting line up. There was no space in the starting line up for Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford either while England's leading scorer Harry Kane started up front with Leicester’s James Maddison starting as well.
England started the game in Malta looking to build on their perfect Euro 2024 qualification record having won both of their first two games against Italy and Ukraine respectively.
There was quite a lively atmosphere in the stands as the game kicked off but with the players not having had competitive football for nearly a month, the game started quite flat.
Bizarrely, Man United defender Harry Maguire was the subject of a fair bit of jeering from the home support in the early stages of the game but it did not appear to faze him.
Despite the flat nature of the game, it took just eight minutes for The Three Lions to open the scoring when Ferdinando Apap turned the ball into his own net. The goal was set up nicely by Alexander-Arnold who set Bukayo Saka free down the right who sent in a cross and it was turned in by Apap.
The Maltese team struggled to really test England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who only had seven touches in the first half, and the England defence in the first half and England looked to be out of sight already when they doubled their advantage midway through the first half.
Alexander-Arnold turned goalscorer
After being instrumental in creating the first goal, Alexander-Arnold turned goalscorer for the second as a Malta clearance found him on the edge of the box and he unleashed a curling shot that found the top left hand corner.
If anyone thought England would sit back and defend their two goal lead, they were proven wrong just sixty seconds after the restart as Southgate's men broke forward immediately and Harry Kane was brought down in the box.
Kane was the first to get to a rebound from a Declan Rice long shot and as he went to take a shot he was brought down and the referee gave a penalty.
Captain Kane got up to take it and placed the penalty down the middle to make it 3-0 to England and in doing so, Kane became the first player ever to score 50 competitive goals for England.
The only slight negative to the first half for England was a knock picked up by Saka who was down for a few minutes receiving treatment and he struggled to run it off.
Southgate replaced the Arsenal man at half time bringing on treble winning Phil Foden in his place.
The second half was particularly flat with neither side creating many chances. Just before the hour mark, Foden played in Kane whose shot went narrowly wide of the post.
That shot turned out to be Kane's last touch of the match as Southgate looked to freshen up the team by making a triple substitution. Callum Wilson, Marcus Rashford and Tyrone Mings, all came on for Kane, Luke Shaw, Jordan Henderson.
With the players not being completely match sharp after having had a bit of a break, and with the game seemingly won, the second half seemed to be petering out a bit.
With 20 minutes to go, Southgate gave a debut to Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze who replaced Maddison and had the final quarter of the game to impress his national manager.
With ten minutes to go, the referee stopped the game as he was asked to go over to the VAR monitor and review a handball decision from an England cross.
After checking the monitor, the referee felt the Maltese defender handled the ball despite his arms being down by his side and he gave England a second penalty of the night although some might say it was a harsh decision.
With Kane already substituted, the responsibility of taking the penalty fell to Callum Wilson who stepped up and scored his second England goal and made it 4-0 to England.
As they did in the first half, England attacked straight from the kick off again and the ball fell to Eze who fired a shot toward goal but his goalbound effort was blocked and cleared.
There was always an element of doubt as to how England would play after their break but Southgate will undoubtedly be happy with what he saw and he will be hoping it continues on Monday as his side host North Macedonia.
Player of the Match - Trent Alexander-Arnold
Eyebrows were raised when the team news came out showing that Alexander-Arnold was wearing the number ten shirt and playing out of position but the Liverpool player did well and showed Southgate why he should play more of a role going forward.
Alexander-Arnold played a great pass to set Saka free for the first goal and followed it up with a wonderful curling effort from long range to double England's lead and he was by far the most lively player on the pitch.
