European Championship Qualifying - Group C
EnglandEngland17:00UkraineUkraine
Venue: Wembley Stadium

England v Ukraine: Gareth Southgate sticking with original squad despite defensive absences

By Alex HowellBBC Sport
Gareth Southgate overseeing England training
Thursday's win in Italy was Southgate's 50th victory as England manager
Euro 2024 qualifying - Group C: England v Ukraine
Venue: Wembley Date: Sunday, 26 March Kick-off: 17:00 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website & app; live text commentary on BBC Sport website & app

Gareth Southgate will not call up new players for England's Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine on Sunday.

The England manager has only 21 players to choose from with left-back Luke Shaw suspended and right-back Reece James withdrawing with an injury.

There had been concerns over the fitness of Jordan Henderson, Jude Bellingham and Kalvin Phillips but Southgate says all three are available.

"We have just about enough to get through this game," said Southgate.

The 52-year-old, whose team won 2-1 in Italy on Thursday in their opening qualifier, added: "We have been training with this group all week - to call somebody from the outside would be potentially quite complicated.

"We would have no idea where they might be and what their training load has been over the last couple of days.

"If we were going to do that at this point we would do that with the under-21s."

England's last meeting with Ukraine was a 4-0 win in the quarter finals of Euro 2020, with the Three Lions going on to reach the final before losing to Italy.

Sunday's game at Wembley is England's first home match since reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup last year in Qatar, while Ukraine are unable to play their qualifying matches in their own country due to the ongoing invasion by Russia.

"They are very proud," said Southgate. "We saw that at the beginning of the war when they went to Scotland at the beginning in the [World Cup] play-offs and Wales.

"They are a very proud group of players, you can see that they are totally committed to bringing enjoyment to their public.

"We of course have huge sympathy with what is going on, tomorrow is a game of football and we are fully focused on the game."

Scores, Results & Fixtures

Sunday 26th March 2023

As It Stands

A

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Scotland11003033
2Georgia00000000
3Norway00000000
4Spain00000000
5Cyprus100103-30

B

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1France11004043
2Greece11003033
3R. of Ireland00000000
4Gibraltar100103-30
5Netherlands100104-40

C

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1England11002113
2North Macedonia11002113
3Ukraine00000000
4Malta100112-10
5Italy100112-10

D

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Turkey11002113
2Croatia00000000
3Latvia00000000
4Wales00000000
5Armenia100112-10

E

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Czech Rep11003123
2Faroe Islands10101101
3Moldova10101101
4Albania00000000
5Poland100113-20

F

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Austria11004133
2Belgium11003033
3Estonia00000000
4Azerbaijan100114-30
5Sweden100103-30

G

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Serbia11002023
2Montenegro11001013
3Hungary00000000
4Bulgaria100101-10
5Lithuania100102-20

H

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Denmark11003123
2Northern Ireland11002023
3Slovenia11002113
4Kazakhstan100112-10
5Finland100113-20
6San Marino100102-20

I

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Switzerland11005053
2Kosovo10101101
3Israel10101101
4Andorra00000000
5Romania00000000
6Belarus100105-50

J

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Portugal11004043
2Bos-Herze11003033
3Slovakia10100001
4Luxembourg10100001
5Iceland100103-30
6Liechtenstein100104-40
View full European Championship Qualifying tables

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