England starting line-up vs Greece as Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden decisions made

England host Greece at Wembley on Thursday night and interim manager Lee Carsley is set to hand Phil Foden a starring role despite his disappointing Euro 2024 campaign

Phil Foden has been told he will be central to Lee Carsley’s England plans.

Carsley worked with Foden at academy level with Manchester City and also with England’s under-21s. Foden is 24, has 41 caps but has only scored four goals for England and there remains a theory that one of the Premier League’s best players has not shown his full potential for his country.

That is something Carsley wants to address and hinted he sees Foden as playing in a more central role rather than being stuck out wide.

Interim boss Carsley said: “I’ve worked with Phil for a while. It’s been a few years but I spent a lot of time with him at City with the Under 18s and in the Under 21s.

“Phil’s an unbelievable player, we’re very lucky to have someone with his talent and mentality and we need to make sure we put him in positions where he can really affect the opposition. That’s where I see playing – anywhere he can hurt the opposition.

“Sometimes playing him in wider positions, he can do it but we’d have to change the way we play to get the best out of him. He’d be central a lot, wider maybe when we’re out of possession. I think in central areas Phil’s at his most effective.”

Foden is expected to line up centrally with Jude Bellingham playing further forward as a false nine with Three Lions captain Harry Kane not fit to feature.

Join the debate! How would you like to see England line up against Greece? Let us know here.

Cole Palmer, England's newly minted Player of the Year, is also expected to be handed a starring role under Carsley. The Chelsea star sat out Carsley's first two matches last month due to injury but is back in the fold and could line up alongside Foden centrally with Declan Rice behind them.

Trent Alexander-Arnold should continue at right-back after impressing during said Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Finland, while Manchester City's Rico Lewis and Levi Colwill of Chelsea could also be handed starts.

Anthony Gordon, who impressed in last month's fixtures, and the in-form Bukayo Saka would then flank Bellingham to complete Carsley's latest England XI.

England predicted XI (4-3-3): Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Stones, Colwill, Lewis; Rice, Foden, Palmer; Saka, Gordon, Bellingham.

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