London (AFP)

A few days of a shock in the League of Nations against Belgium, England offered a pleasant squad review (3-0) against Wales who also turned on Thursday evening at Wembley.

With 54 selections in total for the eleven holders of the Three Lions, two players who lived their first tenure and two others who even played their very first minutes in A, Gareth Southgate did not skimp on the renewal.

His choices have paid off, the new ones having seized with full hands the small chance offered to them to shake up the hierarchy.

The opening scoring came from the inevitable Dominic Calvert-Lewin, one of the two novices with Bukayo Saka.

The Everton center forward, who currently dominates the Premier League after four days, scored his 10th goal of the season - six in the league, three in the League Cup and therefore one with England - on a Jack Grealish center.

Highly anticipated, the Aston Villa playmaker, who had already played 14 minutes against Denmark in September, delivered a perfect cross on the six-meter line that Calvert-Lewin smashed from the head to the back of the net, taking advantage a very loose marking (1-0, 26th).

The last Everton striker to score at Wembley was none other than the illustrious Gary Lineker in 1985.

Rather solid and dynamic so far, Wales have been cooled by this goal and the deficiencies in their defense have been fatal on two occasions.

On the second goal, left side defender Conor Coady, alone at the far post, recovered from a very nice half-volley a perfect free kick from his counterpart from the right, Kieran Trippier, the most experienced player on the English side with 21 selections before this match (2-0, 53rd).

And the third goal was the work of a ghost, Danny Ings, holder for the first time at 28, five years after having played two ends of matches in selection.

On a corner, Tyrone Mings, who came into play just before, cleverly gave a header to Ings, also without an opponent within a meter while he was seven meters from goals.

The Southampton striker, trained in Liverpool, then managed a nice return to seal the match definitively.

If Gareth Southgate enjoyed the show, he knows that his team will have to do better for 90 minutes on this same lawn, Sunday against Belgium, for the shock of Group 2 of League A.

© 2020 AFP