England's place in next year's World Cup is already secured, but Thomas Tuchel will not let them take their foot off the gas just yet.

The Three Lions have won all seven of their qualifiers so far and will want to see out the group with a 100% record, as they aim to keep building momentum ahead of the 2026 tournament.

Albania sit seven points behind Tuchel's side in the table, but have secured their play-off place, keeping their own hopes of going to the United States, Canada and Mexico in June.

They beat Andorra 1-0 on Thursday, and coupled with England's 2-0 win over Serbia, it was enough to see them qualify ahead of Dragan Stojkovic's side.

But England also have a record to protect, having kept nine clean sheets in as many competitive games, including all seven in World Cup qualifying so far.

Will they be able to extend that run at Arena Kombetare, or can Albania spring a surprise? Here, we delve into the Opta data ahead of the clash.

What's expected?

Given their impressive record already in Group K, and their strong history against Albania, England are heavy favourites to claim a win in Tirana.

Albania have lost all seven of their matches against England, all of which have come in World Cup qualifiers.

They have conceded at least twice in every defeat and scored just once, an Altin Rraklli goal in a 3-1 loss in March 2001.

England, meanwhile, have only played more games against Luxembourg (nine), Andorra and San Marino (both eight) while maintaining a 100% win ratio than they have against Albania (seven).

They won 2-0 in their most recent meeting in March this year, with goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane securing all three points in Tuchel's first game in charge.

And England are given a 68.1% chance of triumphing again by the Opta supercomputer, with the chances of a draw rated at 17.5%. Albania's hopes of a shock three points sit at just 14.4%.

England's defensive stronghold

As mentioned above, England have won their last nine competitive matches, keeping clean sheets in all nine games.

Two of these came under Lee Carsley in the Nations League last November, with the last seven being in the World Cup qualifiers under Tuchel.

Only one European nation has ever won more consecutive competitive matches without conceding, with Spain winning 10 in a row between October 2014 and June 2016, a record the Three Lions can match this weekend.

During that run, they have faced just nine shots on target, with five of those coming in the first game against Greece.

Under Tuchel, they have shored up defensively, facing just 28 shots with only three of those on target, and they have never faced more than one effort on target in a single match.

In fact, they have played four matches without facing a shot on target, more than any other side among the teams in UEFA's qualifying groups (six teams, including Albania, with two such games).

Jordan Pickford has featured in all seven of the World Cup qualifiers, making just three saves.

He is one of just two goalkeepers on record (since 2006) to have a 100% save percentage in a European World Cup qualification campaign, alongside Austria's Helge Payer in the 2006 cycle (nine saves, 12 matches), when playing seven games or more.

England also have their strong away form to fall back on, having won their last six on the road in all competitions, their best run since May 1970 and December 1971 (also six).

And they won their last two of those by 5-0 scorelines (against Serbia and Latvia) – they last hit five or more goals in three consecutive away games between May 1937 and May 1938.

Harry Kane has scored six goals in qualifying so far, but failed to make his mark against Serbia. However, Tuchel's side showed they can still pose a threat without him, with the bench demonstrating particular strength in depth.

Eberechi Eze came off the bench to score England's second goal against Serbia; all three of his international goals have come as a substitute. He is the only Three Lions player to score as many as three goals, with all of them off the bench.

Phil Foden, who was Kane's replacement on Thursday, set Eze up for the goal. The 25-year-old has seven goal involvements for Manchester City this season (four goals, three assists), and he will be keen to make sure his domestic form keeps carrying into the national team.

Albania hoping for home comforts

Albania got the job done to secure second place with a game to spare, and do not have to worry about Serbia breathing down their necks.

They will be keen to get a win to carry some momentum into the play-offs, but they need an attacking improvement if they want to do so. In the reverse fixture against England, they managed just three shots.

Overall, they have netted seven goals from their 71 shots (worth 7.0 expected goals). Albania have only scored more than once in one of their games – a 3-0 win over Andorra at home – with Rey Manaj their top scorer on three goals.

They are on a three-match winning streak in qualifying, though, beating Latvia, Serbia and Andorra all by 1-0 scorelines.

But like England, the Red and Blacks also have a defensive resolve to them, which they will be hoping can stand up to the test.

Albania have not conceded a goal in a home qualifier for a major tournament (Euros/World Cup) for eight matches, since a 1-0 defeat to Poland in October 2021.

In that time, they have faced 70 shots (17 on target) and an xG of 4.6 without conceding in these eight games.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Albania – Kristjan Asllani

Kristjan Asllani scored the winner for Albania against Andorra last time out, getting his second goal of the qualifying campaign.

He has had 15 shots in total, with only Manaj (17) having more, and has a 13.3% conversion rate.

But as well as providing a goalscoring threat, he has also created 15 chances for his team-mates, more than anyone else. However, he only has one assist.

England – Harry Kane

Kane has been directly involved in seven goals in three appearances against Albania (five goals, two assists), scoring or assisting every 35 minutes on average.

It is his joint-most goals against one nation (also five against San Marino), while he has only been involved in more goals against Bulgaria (four goals, four assists).

Kane is averaging a goal every 98.5 minutes in World Cup qualifying and has had both more shots (27) and shots on target (14) than anyone else.