How England should line up in Thomas Tuchel's first match vs Albania: Dan Burn deserves a debut while Marcus Rashford should be starting as 2026 World Cup qualifying begins at Wembley

"These are the four goalkeepers we think we will build our squad on," Tuchel said on England's YouTube channel when explaining his rationale behind the selections of Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Dean Henderson and James Trafford. "They compete, and we want straight away to give the message that this is a new start for everyone. At the same time, see also how they work together, how the energy is between them."

Every few months, the country tricks itself into thinking Pickford's spot as undisputed No.1 is at risk, and though Tuchel has only fanned those flames with this statement, the Everton shot-stopper should have little to worry about.

He remains the Three Lions' best goalkeeper by a considerable distance and has seldom let the team down before. The hope moving forward is Tuchel feeds him instructions beyond 'kick the ball as far as you bloody can', which seemed to be Sir Gareth Southgate's message during the ill-fated Euro 2024 final.

Under Tuchel's guidance at Chelsea, Reece James became one of the world's leading wing-backs. When he suffered a hamstring injury midway through the 2021-22 season, that's when the German's record at Stamford Bridge started to decline, such was his importance.

James has, surprisingly, scarcely played as an orthodox right-back over the last few years, and is now anchoring Enzo Maresca's midfield in west London. Nevertheless, there's an opportunity for him to make this spot his own, if it isn't already in Tuchel's mind. Alexander-Arnold's own fitness issues have left the door ajar for James to add to the meagre 16 caps he's earned with England so far.

Whether James will be fit or not for next summer's tournament - or any of the international windows before then - is a question clouded in uncertainty, but for now, Tuchel has confirmed he has 'double and triple-checked' with the 25-year-old over how he feels at the moment, and he is ready to go.

Believe it or not, there's actually some brief overlap between Tuchel and Marc Guehi. The centre-back's loan at Swansea City came to an end just as the German's Chelsea lifted the 2021 Champions League, but Guehi was sold to Crystal Palace a couple of weeks into the following pre-season. How the Blues must be wishing to reverse that decision to this day...

Guehi, still only 24, now stands as one of England's most reliable options in the heart of defence, having started all but one game at Euro 2024. At club level, he has inherited the captain's armband and is regularly linked with £70m moves away from Selhurst Park owing to his pedigree.

Stones and Harry Maguire, Southgate's preferred centre-back partnership throughout his tenure, are both absent from Tuchel's first squad. While he may be trying to lean on older heads, Guehi fits the bill as an experienced and wise defender.

The main character of English football this week has unquestionably been Dan Burn. As if being named as the most surprising selection in Tuchel's squad - bar maybe the jump-scare re-inclusion of Jordan Henderson - wasn't enough, he then had to go and drag his boyhood club, Newcastle United, to their first trophy in 70 years.

"He's a very solid defender and a leader in the group," Tuchel rationalised prior to Burn's cup-final exploits. "I have spoken to Dan and it was a very impressive phone call with very impressive messages that made me very comfortable in this call-up that we have picked a top team player that will help us build the right team."

At 32, Burn is hardly getting any younger, rather he falls into the age bracket Tuchel would like to lean on to bring nous and savviness to his side. That said, Burn could do with some actual international experience if he's going to be a serious candidate to go to the World Cup - he's almost the inverse of Guehi in this sense - and so should be in the line up from the off to start this journey.

Like Guehi, Tino Livramento has some minor crossover with Tuchel at Chelsea. Like Burn, he's fresh off of lifting the Carabao Cup. Fans of narrative would pick the 22-year-old for these reasons alone, yet there's extra layers to this selection which we need to delve into.

There has and will be a clamour to see Myles Lewis-Skelly - particularly from the incredibly vocal supporters of a certain north London club - but it's only right he waits his turn, not necessarily because of his own youth and rapid rise, rather Livramento has been understatedly excellent for a while now.

Sunday's complete shutdown of Ballon d'Or contender Mohamed Salah proved record-breaking - it was the first time a full-back had stopped the Egyptian from registering a shot during a full game in his Liverpool career. Down the other end, it was Livramento's teasing cross that was knocked down by Jacob Murphy for Alexander Isak to finish.

And all the while, Livramento is still only 22, his worrisome injuries and fitness concerns now consigned to the past. The left-back spot is his to lose, at least until club-mate Lewis Hall returns to fitness.

There's been some suggestion that Tuchel's decision to call upon Henderson was borne out of distrust in an inexperienced midfield, which is insulting to Declan Rice, who has started two European Championship finals and has lived up to his £105m price tag at Arsenal.

He is as core a player in the England setup as anyone else, someone well in with a chance of going down as England's all-time leading appearance holder (he's earned 62 caps by age 26). A master tactician like Tuchel will be salivating at how he can get the best out of a midfielder of Rice's standing.

When Rice formed part of a midfield tandem with Tomas Soucek at West Ham, Tuchel said of them: "They are real helpers on the pitch, they have an incredible volume both of them. They take responsibility for high pressing, for deep defending, for filling the gaps on the wings, for deep build-up, for goals from set-pieces. Both of them are simply doing everything. Declan is an important member of the England team, so it speaks for itself. Very strong in build-up, very intelligent in passing and, of course, they are quality players." And that was over three years ago.

Is this exercise in-part about finding a way not to include Henderson by any means necessary? Perhaps, but go ahead and find an Englishman who would like to see him start on Friday.

Ideally, one of Adam Wharton or Conor Gallagher would have been called up to play in a deeper midfield role with Rice, so instead that responsibility should fall to Curtis Jones. If England are to win more midfield battles, they need more players capable of keeping the ball on the deck and playing out of trouble, rather than only trying to come out on top physically.

In Jones, Tuchel has a technically-gifted playmaker with a wise head on his young shoulders. Under the tutelage of Jurgen Klopp and now Arne Slot, he's starting to look like the midfielder his club and country need.

Do we really need to talk ad nauseam about this? Tuchel's most important task in handling his midfield is where and how he will use Jude Bellingham. He broke into Southgate's setup in a deeper role, but his goal-poaching exploits at Real Madrid saw him moved further up the pitch for Euro 2024, much to the detriment of most of his performances.

So how do we ensure Bellingham is able to combine his breathless tenacity and work rate with his penchant for goals? A free role in a 4-3-3 makes the most sense to start off with, and from there Tuchel should be able to identify the kinks in both Bellingham's game and the strengths of his squad to make further judgement down the line.

Does Phil Foden deserve to be in England's first XI after the season he's had? Probably not. Actually, scratch that, definitely not. Had either Saka or Palmer been available, then the Manchester City ace would be warming the bench, that's for sure.

Alas, he's been offered a lifeline to get out of his own pity party. Foden has to use these two World Cup qualifiers against lesser opposition to get back into his groove, to show he actually can perform in an England shirt.

Balancing the front three will be just as important as doing so in midfield. At the peak of his powers, Foden is a creator and a scorer, but he must do so with Three Lions on his chest and not only when he's draped in sky blue - four goals in 43 international appearances is an absurdly poor record for someone of his quality, for goodness sake.

How long do you think we'll go this time around before getting to an 'are England better without Kane?' think piece before realising that's nonsense again? With Tuchel in the dugout on an 18-month contract, you'd hope it doesn't come up at all.

Kane's move from Tottenham to Bayern Munich was driven by Tuchel and his desperate want of the striker. "We have a proven goal-scorer at the highest level. Of course we have a lot of expectations because we know him already. It will be a lot of extra responsibility on his shoulders, but Harry is someone who proves that he can handle that," was the boss' most recent assessment of the captain.

England will almost certainly line up in a more conservative manner than Tuchel's Bayern, who were easy to play through and criticised for their soft underbelly, which went against the grain of his other sides. At international level, the easiest route to solidity is to simplify the game. Given Kane's advancing years and declining mobility, the best way to use him will be to pair him with at least one forward to do his running for him, a la Son Heung-min at Spurs. Which brings us to our final pick...

The Kane-Son axis is literally the most prolific partnership in the history of the Premier League, so it's confusing as to why Southgate never quite sought to replicate such a tandem with England. Stylistically speaking, Marcus Rashford is a pretty close comparison to Son, a dynamic and pacey attacker who can slice teams apart when afforded space to run into.

Rashford has started to rediscover his mojo out on loan at Aston Villa, which is promising, but Tuchel's admission that the forward essentially needs babysitting to avoid relapses into his old ways was a point of concern: "I had the feeling that we need to reward him now, we need to feel him, he needs to be close to me, that he does not fall back into old routines. He stepped up his game impressively [at Villa] against the ball. This is the most important point for him - the intensity after ball loss. The tracking back on the side. The sprinting. The hunting down. Making sure you're in position. That he can bully defenders, we know all that … We forgot a little bit about it but we know it. He is a ­complete package. But at the same time, we want to make sure that he stays on track."

Well, if Rashford's going to be here, then he might as well start and continue building that momentum. Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers, be on your toes, lads...