England will bring their World Cup qualification campaign to a close in Vilnius on Sunday when they take on Lithuania at the Vilniaus LFF Stadium.

Gareth Southgate's side have already secured top spot in Group F, and with it a place at next summer's World Cup in Russia, but the Three Lions will be hopeful of ending the campaign on a high note.

Lithuania

© SilverHub

Lithuania would not have come into their qualifying campaign with any serious ambitions of challenging for a place at next summer's World Cup, and merely staying off bottom spot can be regarded as a success of sorts for them.

A 1-1 draw with the previously-pointless Malta on Thursday ensured that Lithuania will definitely finish in fifth place, with five points separating them from the bottom-placed team and eight from fourth-placed Slovenia.

One win and three draws from their nine outings so far is not a bad return for a nation ranked 120th in the world, below the likes of Lebanon, Rwanda and Bahrain, but if they can add anything extra to that against Southgate's England on Sunday then it would go down as one of their greatest results.

Lithuania began the qualifying campaign with a three-match unbeaten streak, but they come into this weekend's match without a win in their last seven outings across all competitions - including six straight defeats prior to Thursday's draw in Malta.

That result also saw Lithuania end a six-match run without even scoring which stretched back almost a year to their solitary win of this qualifying campaign - a 2-0 triumph over Malta last October.

Edgaras Jankauskas will be glad to be back on home turf for the visit of England, despite seeing his side lose their last two home outings, against Slovakia and Scotland.

Remarkably for a team of their stature, Lithuania have not lost three consecutive home games since August 2001 and, with as many wins as defeats from their last 15 outings in front of their own fans, their form in Vilnius is significantly better than it is on the road, where they are without a win in 17.

Four of Lithuania's six points during the current qualifying campaign have come on home soil, but Scotland were the most recent visitors and they ran out comfortable 3-0 victors, so England will once again be heavy favourites for this encounter.

Recent qualifying form: LLLLLD
Recent form (all competitions): LLLLLD

England

© SilverHub

England go into Sunday's match knowing that they will be in the group stages of next summer's World Cup, but there is also little doubt that they have a lot of work to do before they travel to Russia.

Thursday's 1-0 win over Slovenia at Wembley got the job done, but that is about the only positive thing you can say about the performance from Southgate's side.

Harry Kane continued his purple patch in front of goal with the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time, handing England a slightly fortuitous victory following what was arguably the most drab and lifeless performance of Southgate's reign so far.

There are plenty of contenders to choose from in that category, though. The Three Lions are yet to put in a genuinely entertaining or inspirational performance under Southgate, and you have to go back to the 3-2 win over Germany in Berlin from March 2016 for the last England performance that really got tongues wagging.

The stats look good for England, though; they have strung together a national-record 14 consecutive competitive victories at Wembley, 38 qualifying matches unbeaten across the World Cup and European Championships and seven clean sheets out of nine games during the current campaign.

No team has conceded fewer goals than England in any World Cup qualifying group, and victory on Sunday would see them make it four triumphs in a row for the first time since October 2015, when incidentally their final win of a five-match streak came in Lithuania.

The performances have been more telling than the results, though, and if England can only squeeze past the likes of Slovakia and Slovenia then it does not bode well for their chances at the World Cup itself next summer.

Sunday's match will be Southgate's final chance to have a look at his side in a competitive game before that World Cup, although the planned glamour friendlies against Germany and Brazil next month are likely to give a better indication as to where England stand at the moment.

It has been the case in the past that facing better opposition has actually enabled England to improve their own performances due to having more space to operate, and fans will be hoping that is the case again over the coming months given the woeful nature of Thursday's display.

Recent form: WWDWWW
Recent form (all competitions): WDLWWW

Team News

© SilverHub

Southgate has Dele Alli back available following his one-match ban, and the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder's return could be one of a number of changes made by the England boss as he shuffles his pack.

Harry Winks and Harry Maguire will be hopeful of senior England debuts in what is essentially a dead rubber, while Southgate may take the opportunity to see other fringe players in action.

The likes of Daniel Sturridge, Jesse Lingard, Aaron Cresswell and Michael Keane will all be pushing for a start, while Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford and Fraser Forster will be hopeful of a stint in goal should Joe Hart drop out.

Lithuania, meanwhile, have no new injury concerns and could name the same starting XI to the one that earned a draw in Malta on Thursday.

Defender Tadas Kijanskas is the most experienced member of their squad with 48 caps, while they also have two Hibernian players in their ranks - Vykintas Slivka and Deivydas Matulevicius.

Lithuania possible starting lineup:
Zubas; Vaitkunas, Mikuckis, Girdvainis, Andriuskevicius; Kuklys, Matulevicius, Cernych, Slivka, Novikovas; Valskis

England possible starting lineup:
Butland; Keane, Smalling, Maguire; Trippier, Winks, Livermore, Cresswell; Lingard, Alli, Sturridge

Head To Head

These two sides have only met on three previous occasions, and each time England have run out comfortable winners without conceding a goal.

The most recent meeting came in the reverse fixture at Wembley in March, when Jermain Defoe and Jamie Vardy got the goals in a 2-0 win - Southgate's first victory since being handed the job on a permanent basis.

The nations also met twice during qualifying for Euro 2016, with England scoring seven goals without reply during the two games - including a 3-0 win on their only previous visit to Vilnius.

We say: Lithuania 0-2 England

Despite having already sealed qualification, the pressure will still be on England to put in a better performance than they managed on Thursday. Fringe players eager to impress may help that, although a goal fest is unlikely.

Previews by email