THE THREE LIONS v IRAN: ALL THE BIG MATCH FACTS

This will be the first-ever encounter between England and Iran. And the Islamic Republic have never beaten European opposition at the World Cup (D2 L6).

England have qualified for the World Cup for the 16th time. It’s their seventh appearance in a row, their longest streak in the competition.

England set the best goal difference in the group stage of European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, scoring 39 goals and conceding three. England are the only European team to have reached the semi-finals in each of the last two major tournaments (the World Cup and the Euros).

Twelve of England’s last 18 World Cup goals have been from set-pieces. In fact, 75 percent of their goals in 2018 came from dead ball situations (nine out of 12).

Iran have never progressed past the first round of the World Cup, winning only two of their 15 matches (v USA in 1998 and Morocco in 2018).

Iran have scored nine goals in 15 World Cup matches. At 0.6, it’s the lowest goals-pergame ratio of any nation to play more than 10 games.

Iran are one of 20 teams to have featured at each of the last two World Cups in 2014 and 2018. But they had the fewest shots (47), the fewest shots on target (10) and scored the fewest goals (three) in the group stages. Harry Kane was the top scorer in the 2018 World Cup, with five of his six goals coming in the group stages. No player has ever been top or joint-top scorer at two different World Cup tournaments.