England's head coach Gareth Southgate clears Saka's injury concerns
Jun 17, 2023
Attard [Malta], June 17 : England managed to secure a comfortable 4-0 victory against Malta in the Euro 2024 Qualifiers on Saturday but their victory came at a cost as Bukayo Saka was substituted moments after the halftime following an injury.
The young English winger ended up twisting his ankle following a challenge from a Maltese defender. But England's head coach Southgate confirmed that Saka suffered no serious injuries, the decision to replace him was just a precautionary measure.
"He's good. We just didn't want to take a chance with him given the scoreline," Southgate said after the match as quoted by Goal.com.
Saka set up England's opener as his cross was diverted towards the goal by Malta defender Ferdinando Apap. The second goal was scored by England's Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 28th minute. Arnold played in the midfield position for England in the match against Malta. This position was new for him as he usually plays defender. But he stood bright to the new task given to him by the manager. He scored from outside the penalty box and put the ball in the left corner of the net.
Soon after, Harry Kane scored from the penalty spot to give England a 3-0 lead. England were dominating right from the start of the match.
In the second half, Newcastle United's striker Callum Wilson scored the fourth goal for England. He scored in the 83rd minute from the penalty spot to seal the game for England.
The Three Lions took 16 shots out of which eight were on target. They had 66 per cent of possession on the ball during the game. They completed a total of 703 passes with an accuracy of 89 per cent.
Malta failed to register a single shot on target. They had 34 per cent of ball possession during the game. They completed 370 passes with an accuracy of 79 per cent.
The Three Lion's next match will be against North Macedonia on June 20. rent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Kane and Callum Wilson were the other scorers for England.
