Is there a better ‘front three’ in international football at present than Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford?

“I think that they’re as exciting as anything, really,” Gareth Southgate said after the Euro 2020 qualifying tie win over Bulgaria that means England top Group A with three victories from three fixtures and 14 goals scored.

Brushing aside Bulgaria, with a Harry Kane hat-trick that took him to 25 international goals and above Sir Geoff Hurst in the all-time goal-scorers list, is hardly a gauge of whether England have the potential to win the tournament next summer. Southgate is fully aware that he has been dealt a group that, despite the threat of an emerging Kosovo in Southampton on Tuesday, should be easily dealt with.

That, in itself, poses a familiar problem for England who have tended to qualify without complication for major tournaments – only to be halted by the first top-ranked nation they face in a finals. The World Cup in 2018 went some way to remedying that, with a win over Colombia, even if England were beaten by Croatia in the semi-finals and the Nations League continued it even if – again – they were defeated by Holland who will definitely be one of the contenders next summer.