Gareth Southgate has delivered a rallying cry to his England players and set them a target of a perfect record in their Euro qualifiers.
Southgate has held a team meeting to hammer home the message that winning all eight Group A matches could be vital to their hopes of success of winning the “home tournament” in 2020.
European governing body UEFA have changed the seeding system for the Euros meaning that the number of qualifying points helps decide the top ranked nations.
Even though England are one of the host nations, being top seeds would mean they would avoid other top seeds like France and Belgium in the group stage of the tournament.
It could also help England ensure they play all three group matches at Wembley with Southgate drumming it into the players the importance of home advantage.
England boss Southgate won eight and drew two of their World Cup qualifiers going into Russia in 2018 while former manager Roy Hodgson won all 10 qualifiers for Euro 2016.
It is a big target but Southgate believes it is vital for England’s hopes of winning their first major tournament since 1966 and told the players about the change in format which had previously been decided on rankings.
The UEFA set up is now based on finishing top of the group, most points, goal difference, goals scored, away goals, number of wins and good disciplinary record.
It now means that Southgate cannot afford to experiment or rest players even at the end of the qualifying tournament, whereas previously the England manager wanted to look at different formations in dead rubber qualifiers.
Southgate has a few dilemmas for his starting line-up to face Bulgaria on Saturday with Marcus Rashford sweating on his place with Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling pushing hard to start either side of Harry Kane.
Michael Keane has impressed under Southgate but Joe Gomez could be favourite to start alongside Harry Maguire with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a possible starter in a midfield three with Harry Winks and Jordan Henderson.
