England continued their impeccable form in World Cup qualifying, beating Serbia 2-0 at Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening.
Manager Thomas Tuchel made three changes to the side that started the 5-0 win at Latvia, including handing Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly his debut.
O’Reilly has now joined Phil Foden and three others as the only City players to debut for the Three Lions before turning 21.
England dominated possession early on, but failed to test Predrag Rajkovic in Serbia’s goal. Bukayo Saka had the first real chance, but fluffed his lines.
Rajkovic made a save to deny Marcus Rashford from giving the hosts the lead before Saka breached his goal in the 28th minute.
After punching Declan Rice’s free-kick, the ball fell to O’Reilly, whose initial effort was blocked before Saka exquisitely put the ball into the net.
O’Reilly came close to doubling the Three Lions’ lead after getting teed up by Rashford, but Rajkovic kept his deflected effort out.
Harry Kane squandered the biggest chance of the first half, failing to hit the target with a free header.
Just before the stroke of half-time, Jordan Pickford made his first save as he had to smother Filip Kostic’s effort.
The second half started slowly, with neither side failing to create a real chance inside the first 18 minutes.
Just after the hour mark, Dusan Vlahovic almost drew Serbia level after receiving a pass from Kostic, but his attempt drifted wide.
The Juventus striker missed another chance late on, firing over the bar before substitute Eberechi Eze struck the woodwork for the hosts.
Just on the stroke of full-time, Eze sealed England’s victory with a one-time finish, following a brilliant team move.
Two Arsenal players have now scored in the same match for England on five occasions – the first time since 2021.
England will end their World Cup qualifying campaign on Sunday evening against Albania.
