Lee Carsley is set to hand Cole Palmer only his third England start against Greece on Thursday, talkSPORT understands.
Of Palmer’s nine senior caps for England, seven of them have come off the substitutes bench but Carsley is ready to unleash the newly crowned England Player of the Year from the off at Wembley.
Palmer has made a blistering start to the Premier League season with six goals and five assists for Chelsea and is being rewarded with a first senior England startGetty
With Harry Kane sidelined by injury, Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke are both hoping to get the chance to fill the captain’s boots.
However, interim boss Carsley is considering replacing Kane with a false no.9.
Carsley won the Under-21 European Championship playing Anthony Gordon in that role and is understood to have experimented with Jude Bellingham there in training this week.
John Stones will captain the team in Kane’s absence, indicating Trent Alexander-Arnold will start at right-back ahead of Kyle Walker.
It’s understood Manchester City star Jack Grealish is a doubt for the game having picked up a knock in training.
Meanwhile, Levi Colwill or Rico Lewis are likely to line up at left-back.
As well as a potential change in tactics, Kane’s injury also means a handing over of the armband to Manchester City centre-back John Stones.
“It was a great conversation that I was able to have with John last night, to have that responsibility to ask him to captain the team,” Carsley said on giving Stones the captaincy.
“It’s a brilliant achievement for John. Something that he deserves – the amount of caps he’s got, the experience he’s got, the level of professionalism that he shows within the squad, the example he is to the younger players.
“It was a great conversation to have.”
Carsley has traditional forwards Watkins and Solanke to call upon with Kane out for the gameGetty
But he may use Gordon as a false nine instead, having played him there as U21s bossGetty
talkSPORT understands that even midfielder Bellingham could be deployed as the false nineGetty
England go into the clash against Greece behind them in their Nations League group on goal difference with both sides obtaining a maximum six points from their first two games.
Last month, the Three Lions won 2-0 against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in what was Carsley’s first game in charge before beating Finland by the same scoreline at Wembley.
After facing the 2004 European champions, England travel to Finland on Sunday, a match you can listen to live on talkSPORT.
Listen to full commentary of England vs Greece, live on talkSPORT, kick-off 7:45pm.
