England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek said England are “ready to give Croatia a challenge” in their Nations League clash this Sunday.

The last time the two sides faced was in their World Cup semi-final in July, where Kieran Trippier’s stunning free kick was trumped by goals from Perisic and Mandzukic.

But Loftus-Cheek believes Sunday’s game at Wembley will be different. He told the London Evening Standard: “It’s not just showing to other people we can do it — more importantly, it is to show it to ourselves, as a team, that we can win against Croatia.

“We were unlucky in the World-Cup semi-final and when we played them last time in the Nations League.

“We will look to play our best football — I felt we had a lot of chances to score in the last game against them. It will definitely be a good test for us and both sides will want to win.”

The Chelsea midfielder came on as a second half substitute in England’s 3-0 win against USA last night in Wayne Rooney’s last England game.

England manager Gareth Southgate rested many of his preferred starting eleven, and warned England can’t afford to repeat the performance on Sunday despite the win.

He told Sky Sports: “We didn’t play with discipline, we were caught in transition and we were wide open. If we do that on Sunday, we will lose.”

 

Words: Charlie Bradley Subbing: Matthew Smith