England took full advantage of their various group rivals’ assorted frailties to crush Latvia 5-0 in Riga and mathematically secure their long-inevitable World Cup qualification with the very minimum of fuss.
Harry Kane helped himself to another couple of goals like the shameless stat-padder he is, while of perhaps greater significance was a fine opening goal for Anthony Gordon who continues to impress under Tuchel with all eyes now firmly on next summer for England.
A fairly comical own goal prompted a ceremonial raft of substitutions produced the expected petering out of the game as any kind of spectacle, the contest having gone the same way before the half-time whistle, before Eberechi Eze added further gloss to the scoreline.
Here are the ratings.
Jordan Pickford
What if he simply never concedes another international goal ever again? What then? Is there some kind of plan in place for that?
Djed Spence
Given it’s the position in which he started his career, it’s quite striking now just how visibly less comfortable and composed Spence is at right-back than left-back.
He was absolutely fine, and did put in one rabona cross that was delightful if almost entirely ineffective. Moments later a more conventional cross was dealt with in hilariously unconventional fashion by Latvia’s defence to gift England a fourth goal. But his link-up with Saka here definitely wasn’t as intuitively on point as it was with Gordon the other night.
Ezri Konsa
Having started at right-back against Wales, he got a run-out in his preferred position with Marc Guehi’s minutes being managed, and on a generally straightforward defensive evening for England, he did make one brilliant last-gasp tackle. Third-choice centre-back until he isn’t, which is fine.
John Stones
Latvia didn’t create much, but one notably towering header snuffed out one rare foray while another actually led to England’s first goal, with Stones the man to release Anthony Gordon behind Latvia’s suddenly absent defence to such devastating effect.
Myles Lewis-Skelly
Given a pretty loose definition of ‘left-back’ under which to operate and had some nice moments without really imposing himself. Lack of minutes for Arsenal might prove a problem for a player with more international starts than club ones. Feels like when everyone’s available he would now be some way behind Spence in the left-back pecking order.
Declan Rice
Would be the first name on the teamsheet if Harry Kane didn’t exist. That burgeoning relationship with Elliot Anderson is a boon, even if this was never a fixture likely to provide too stern a test of either man’s all-round game.
Elliot Anderson
Has been a revelation for England but did get caught to allow Latvia to get in behind for the one and only truly threatening time early in the second half. Could potentially be a worry in tougher games, but we’re also aware that we’re focusing very much here on the one mistake. The fact that it stood out as much as it did tells its own story about how unusual it already felt.
Bukayo Saka
England’s left-hand side was comfortably their more enterprising and productive for the first hour of the evening, through Gordon and Lewis-Skelly, and that all left Saka as more of a peripheral figure than we’re used to seeing. Nothing to worry about, of course, but on this occasion, nothing much to see either.
Morgan Rogers
A quiet night for a player who finds himself a key figure in The Bellingham Affair. After looking so impressive against Wales, he didn’t quite take the chance here to really cement a starting spot. Not that anything anyone anywhere could do now would in any way hush the noise, with the press already making it clear that the November break with its meaningless games is going to be Bellingham Week, especially if he plays but especially if he doesn’t.
And we’re aware of the irony of spending most of this Morgan Rogers entry talking ourselves about Jude Bellingham, so don’t bother pointing it out.
Anthony Gordon
Lively again on the left and appears for now to have won the battle with Rashford for a starting spot. A slightly different role tonight with Lewis-Skelly playing both further forward and wider than Spence did on that side against Wales, but still a key outlet for England and set up a fine early chance that Kane pinged narrowly wide among a flurry of teasing crosses in the first quarter-hour.
Given a rare chance to run in behind after Latvia giddily embarked on an attack and momentarily abandoned their back nine, he took full and deadly toll to ping home the opening goal. A big, big winner of the Tuchel regime and now pretty consistently delivering just the kind of performances being asked of him.
Harry Kane
Had the ball in the net inside the first minute but Saka was offside in the build-up. Should have opened the scoring minutes later but fired wide. Had a long-range sighter just before thudding a trademark finish into the bottom corner from 20 yards and then converting a penalty after a Latvia defender attempted to swap shirts rather too early in proceedings.
A ridiculous footballer doing ridiculous things, he now has a ridiculous 76 England goals. Or, if you ridiculously prefer, zero.
Substitutes
Eberechi Eze (for Rogers, 60)
Had his fun when coming on for the last 30 against a Latvia defence whose spirit was long since broken. Fizzed in a shot from distance that was well saved before threading an eye-catching ball through for Spence to cross, and got his goal stylishly after being played in by Bowen.
Jarrod Bowen (for Saka, 60)
Won the ball tenaciously in midfield before playing in Eze for the fifth goal. Very Tuchel behaviours from Bowen, there, and the coach’s reaction to what was not in itself a particularly necessary goal felt significant.
Jordan Henderson (for Rice, 60)
Almost no chance he plays his way into the starting XI, but also now feels like an absolute certainty to bring his experience and nous to one last major tournament squad. Fair enough.
Marcus Rashford (for Gordon, 71)
Knows he faces a battle to try and unseat Gordon from the starting XI but ran at a weary defence with plenty of willing and enthusiasm.
Dan Burn (for Stones, 71)
Seemed to spend much of his 20-odd minutes on the pitch playing primarily as a very large target for corners and free-kicks.