England vs. Nigeria: Time, Live Stream and TV Schedule
England and Nigeria step up their FIFA 2018 World Cup preparations on Saturday, when they meet in an international friendly at Wembley Stadium.
The game will be England's first since manager Gareth Southgate named his 23-man squad for the tournament in Russia. Nigeria were in action on Monday and drew 1-1 with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Both sets of players will be out to impress their managers as they aim to book their places in their respective starting XIs for the World Cup
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Date: Saturday, June 2
Time: 5:15 p.m. BST/12:15 p.m. ET
TV Info: ITV 1 (UK), Fox Soccer Plus (U.S.)
Southgate Has Decisions to Make
Southgate has picked a youthful squad, and he will use the friendly against Nigeria to help make decisions over who will start England's opening World Cup game against Tunisia.
The Three Lions manager left goalkeeper Joe Hart out of the squad and will need to choose between Everton's Jordan Pickford, Stoke City's Jack Butland and Burnley's Nick Pope.
Henry Winter at The Times explained why Pickford would be a good choice:
England look set to continue with the three-man defence they have experimented with in recent friendlies despite using a back four in qualifying.
Southgate should pick a strong team on Saturday, with the game also being England's final friendly at Wembley before the World Cup.
England play Costa Rica before they fly out to Russia but will play that game at Leeds United's Elland Road ground.
Nigeria Attack Can Trouble England
Nigeria have several players who ply their trade in England in their squad, including Arsenal's Alex Iwobi, Chelsea's Victor Moses and Leicester City trio Wilfred Ndidi, Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho.
Moses, Iwobi and Iheanacho all have bags of pace and could cause a relatively new-look England defence problems.
Nigeria have been handed a tough draw at the World Cup, as they will face Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.
They face a tough task to qualify for the knockout stages but will look the part with a kit that is much in demand:
Nigeria are no pushovers, as they showed in qualification. They were the first African team to book their place at the World Cup, topping a group that also contained Cameroon and Algeria in the third round of CAF qualifying.
