Gareth Southgate is intent on England playing a three-man defence when they go to the World Cup in Russia. The England manager has settled on his preferred formation for the tournament and will use it in next month’s friendly internationals at home to Germany and Brazil.

England will line up in a 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2 formation for those encounters and Southgate plans to continue with it in two more friendlies – probably against Holland and Italy – in the spring, before finalising his squad.

“We have to focus on a system and really try to hone it, work on it, improve it, that might mean we might have to leave some good players out. But we have to start to make those decisions over the next couple of camps,” Southgate said following the lacklustre 1-0 victory away to Lithuania to complete England’s World Cup qualification campaign.

Southgate used the formation in Vilnius and has tried it before, most notably in the friendly defeat away to Germany, and is now shifting away from the 4-2-3-1 line-up he has stuck with during the qualification campaign.

Talk of possibly leaving “some good players out” of his starting XI may raise questions as to where the likes of Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford fit into the team.