England vs Spain prediction and predicted line-ups: Tuchel without Rice against the world champions. Nations League, Saturday 26 September

The world champions are coming to Wembley. Thomas Tuchel's England host Luis de la Fuente's Spain on Saturday 26 September in the opening round of the 2026/27 Nations League, the first game for both since the World Cup. Spain won it, beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the final; England finished third, their best World Cup since they won it in 1966. The last meeting was the Euro 2024 final in Berlin, settled by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 86th minute. The game is a sell-out, and when he named his squad on Friday 18 September Tuchel said: “We feel the gap is closing, we feel we are close, we want to prove a point.”

England vs Spain: kick-off time and venue

England vs Spain kicks off at 19:45 UK time (20:45 Central European Time) on Saturday 26 September at Wembley Stadium. It is Group A3 of League A in the Nations League, alongside Croatia and Czechia, who meet in Prague the same evening, and the top two go through to the quarter-finals in March 2027. De la Fuente signed a new contract to 2032 on Monday 21 September, and on the 18th he said that on the night of the final one of his players asked what was left to win, and he replied “pues el 26 de septiembre contra Inglaterra” (well, 26 September against England).

Team news

On Monday 21 September the FA confirmed five withdrawals through injury: Declan Rice, who misses the whole window, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento. James Garner and Morgan Gibbs-White were called up and reported to St George's Park with the rest of the squad on Tuesday. John Stones and Reece James had already been left out injured.

Spain trained for the first time on Tuesday 22 September at Las Rozas, in front of more than 2,000 fans. Marc Pubill sat out with blisters, and seven players, among them Oyarzabal, Marc Cucurella and Fabián Ruiz, worked separately, with no reason given. Pedro Porro is injured and has been replaced by Sporting's Iván Fresneda, and goalkeeper Joan García has a knee problem, so Inter's Josep Martínez comes in. Fresneda, promoted from the under-21s, said on Tuesday: “Es un sueño hecho realidad estar aquí con los campeones del mundo” (It's a dream come true to be here with the world champions). Dean Huijsen, sent off in the Madrid derby (our call was no more than four goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct), serves that ban in La Liga and is available.

England vs Spain predicted line-ups

Neither coach has given much away and the predictions doing the rounds differ, so there is no full XI that holds up. For England, in a 4-2-3-1, the fixed points are Jordan Pickford in goal, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guéhi and Nico O'Reilly at the back, Elliot Anderson at the base of midfield, Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham behind Harry Kane. Garner and Bournemouth's uncapped Alex Scott are competing to replace Rice alongside Anderson, and the third attacking midfield spot is between Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers.

For Spain the predictions do not even agree on the shape, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. Unai Simón, Pau Cubarsí, Cucurella, Rodri, Lamine Yamal and Oyarzabal look certain to start. Eric García or Pubill at right-back, Huijsen or Aymeric Laporte in the middle, two of Pedri, Martín Zubimendi, Fabián Ruiz and Fermín López next to Rodri, and Nico Williams or Baena on the left. The official line-ups are released about an hour before kick-off.

Head-to-head and form

Spain have won three of the last five meetings, England one, and the other was drawn. Before the Berlin final, 2-1 to Spain on 14 July 2024, the two met in the 2018/19 Nations League: Spain won 2-1 at Wembley on 8 September 2018 and England won 3-2 in Seville on 15 October.

At the World Cup England beat DR Congo 2-1, Mexico 3-2 and Norway 2-1 after extra time, lost the semi-final 2-1 to Argentina and beat France 6-4 in the third-place play-off. In the knockout rounds Spain beat Austria 3-0, Portugal 1-0, Belgium 2-1 and France 2-0 before the 1-0 final win, with Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute: nine scored and one conceded.

Our England vs Spain prediction

Our call is no more than four goals, confidence 7 out of 10. Spain conceded once in five World Cup knockout games, and England are without Rice, Palmer and Rashford. Every other game of the round is in our matchday one preview, and the full squads are in our squad round-up.

Every game with our calls is on the Nations League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and our calls on individual players are in player predictions.