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England fans are in for a shock when Thomas Tuchel names his first England squad, according to AI. The new Three Lions boss is preparing to begin his 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign later this month. After officially succeeding Gareth Southgate in January, Tuchel will take charge against Albania and Latvia at Wembley Stadium. England are set to host their group K rivals on March 21 and 24, with Serbia and Andorra completing the pool. Ahead of those matches, Tuchel will announce his squad on Friday. PLAIER - which uses a database of more than 300, 000 players across 200+ countries to correlate billions of data points and provide precise analysis, statistics and insights across clubs and players - have now predicted the German's first 23-man selection using AI. Players currently unavailable through injury, such as Lewis Hall and Noni Madueke, have been excluded from the squad. However, there are still several shock inclusions alongside Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Jordan Pickford. Most notably, Championship pair John Swift and Ben Sheaf make the cut despite playing outside of the top flight. Swift scored once in 13 caps at under-21 level but now stars in midfield for West Brom. In 32 league matches this season, the 29-year-old has scored three goals. Meanwhile, Sheaf won two caps for the under-18s as a teenager in his last experience of international action. Although he has made 22 Championship appearances for Coventry, the midfielder has not started since being forced off with an injury against Norwich on January 4. The inclusions of Swift and Sheaf mean there is no place in the squad for Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri. It comes despite the 17-year-old scoring eight goals in 28 matches across all competitions this season. As well as being the Premier League's youngest-ever player, Nwaneri still does not turn 18 until the day of England's opener against Albania. The teenager has already scored six goals in nine caps for the Three Lions' under-19 side. His fellow Gunners youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly is one of seven defenders selected by AI. Check out all the best Cheltenham Festival free bets and offers at our dedicated page In a breakthrough season in North London, the 18-year-old left back has taken his tally of senior appearances to 24. Like Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly is also already an under-19 international, making five appearances. The other uncapped inclusion is Ipswich defender Jacob Greaves, who also failed to feature for England at youth level. Greaves has scored once from centre-back in 18 Premier League appearances this term. Elsewhere, Reece James and James Tarkowski have both been tipped for recalls after lengthy absences from the set-up. James has not featured for two years after several hamstring injuries and significant lay-offs. As for Tarkowski, the Everton star won the last of his two caps in 2018, with his most recent call-up coming the following year. However, he has started all 28 of the Toffees league matches this season, missing just eight minutes of action so far. England resume their qualifying campaign in June against Andorra following this month's opening ties against Albania and Latvia. A pair of friendlies against Senegal and Wales have also been scheduled for June and October, respectively. Goalkeepers: Nick Pope, Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson. Defenders: Reece James, Trent Alexander Arnold, Kyle Walker-Peters, James Tarkowski, Jacob Greaves, Levi Colwill, Myles Lewis-Skelly. Midfielders: James Maddison, Ebrechi Eze, John Swift, James Ward-Prowse, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Ben Sheaf, Curtis Jones.   Attackers: Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Harry Kane, Ollie Watkins. © 2025 talk SPORT Limited

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