England’s Dier wary of Lithuania threat

LONDON: England’s Euro 2016 humiliation by Iceland means they will never again underestimate teams like Sunday’s opponents Lithuania, according to Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier.

Dier was a member of the team stunned 2-1 by Iceland in Nice last year as England crashed to their most embarrassing defeat since a 1-0 loss to the part-timers of the United States at the 1950 World Cup.

Gareth Southgate’s men will start as strong favourites at Wembley, as they look to defend their place at the Group F summit, but Dier says thoughts of Iceland will not be far away.

“Whenever you’re in an England squad, you’re going to think about it. It’s a painful reminder and it’s a good lesson for the future,” he told reporters on Friday.

“We can look back on that game and what we didn’t do and in games like the one on Sunday try to do what we didn’t.”

He added: “We have to be confident going into it, try to play quick, attacking football and hopefully they won’t be able to handle that.”

Having tested a 3-4-2-1 system in Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Germany, Southgate may decide to revert to the back four he used in the three qualifiers he oversaw at the end of last year.

With Chelsea’s Gary Cahill suspended and Manchester United pair Chris Smalling and Phil Jones having withdrawn due to injury, John Stones will expect to regain his place at centre-back.

The Manchester City defender started on the bench in Dortmund, where Burnley’s Michael Keane made an accomplished debut.

Uncapped Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson has been drafted into the squad to provide cover at centre-back.

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford is also pushing for a starting berth, while Jermain Defoe will hope to feature after returning to the squad following an absence of nearly four years.

Lithuania made a steady start to qualifying, drawing with Slovenia and Scotland before beating Malta 2-0, but were then given a rude awakening by a 4-0 defeat in Slovakia.