Morgan Rogers celebrates after putting England ahead in the friendly against Wales at Wembley.Reuters

Morgan Rogers celebrates after putting England ahead in the friendly against Wales at Wembley

At a glance

  • Morgan Rogers scores from close range to give England a third-minute lead

  • Rogers' Aston Villa team-mate Ollie Watkins - in for injured captain Harry Kane - doubles England's lead eight minutes later

  • Bukayo Saka scores a brilliant third for England with a curling finish after 20 minutes

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer at Wembley

England delivered another exciting attacking display to outclass an out-of-sorts Wales and stroll to victory in a friendly at Wembley.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel kept faith with the squad that secured the best win of his reign when beating Serbia 5-0 in the World Cup qualifier in Belgrade in September - and they delivered in style once more.

England ran Wales ragged in the opening stages, establishing a three-goal lead inside only 20 minutes.

Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers built on his excellent display in Serbia by turning home the opening goal from Marc Guehi's cross after three minutes, with club team-mate Ollie Watkins making the most of his chance to deputise for injured captain Harry Kane by doubling England's lead from close range eight minutes later.

Bukayo Saka then became Arsenal's highest England goalscorer with a spectacular strike, curled high past Wales keeper Karl Darlow with his left foot. It was his 13th goal for his country.

Rogers also hit the woodwork after the break and, while Wales improved as England's tempo dropped, this was a routine and impressive win for Tuchel's side.

The Three Lions now move on to face Latvia in their next World Cup qualifier in Riga on Tuesday while Wales host Belgium in Cardiff on Monday.

England analysis: Tuchel's choice vindicated

England's emphatic win must be placed in the context that it came in the face of a desperately poor Wales performance, Craig Bellamy's side giving every impression that their attention was focused on Monday's crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium.

This was still another resounding victory, however, the platform set by an opening characterised by the intensity and attacking variety that was missing in the early stages of Tuchel's reign.

Much has been made of Tuchel's decision to exclude Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, despite the player's wish to be included, but in his absence Villa's Rogers justified that choice with another fine performance.

He scored the opener, his first for England, had a hand in Watkins' second, then also hit the woodwork before being substituted after 69 minutes.

Watkins will also have been delighted to get on the scoresheet, although he went off at half-time after colliding with the post after missing another opportunity.

It was also a big night for Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who beat his and Gordon Banks' record of seven successive clean sheets for England, ensuring he achieved that record with fine second-half saves from David Brooks and Chris Mepham.

Tougher tests lie ahead for England, starting against Latvia in Riga on Tuesday, but this was another very satisfactory night for Tuchel.

Wales analysis: Overwhelmed visitors serve up worst display of Bellamy's tenure

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales at Wembley

Highly anticipated as any meeting between these neighbouring nations might be, the bigger picture for Wales was always the Belgium match.

As preparation for that game and future major tournaments, Bellamy chose England for this friendly because he wanted to expose his players to world-class opposition.

With his team trailing 3-0 after only 20 minutes, he may have been regretting his decision.

Wales were completely overwhelmed by their rampant hosts and, rather than pressing high and attacking as Bellamy demands of his players, they were woefully passive as they were penned back in their own half.

The head coach had actually picked a strong team - a demonstration of how seriously he was taking the game - but friendly or otherwise, the first 45 minutes were the worst of his tenure.

There was a slight improvement in the second half as Bellamy replaced several first-team players to protect them for the Belgium match, and the substitutes injected some much-needed energy and urgency into what had been a listless performance.

But by that stage, with more than an hour gone, the game was well beyond Wales.

That did nothing to deter the 7,000 or so Wales fans at Wembley, who waved their shirts above their heads and created a joyous atmosphere in spite of what they were witnessing on the field.

The real judgement for Wales will come on Monday. Only after their World Cup qualifier against Belgium will they know if this Wembley experiment will have been worth it.

Player of the match

B. Saka
7.57
7 B. Saka
7.57
15 M. Rogers
7.35
21 E. Anderson
7.34
6 M. Guéhi
7.24
4 D. Rice
7.11
14 D. Spence
7.07
17 A. Gordon
6.87
19 O. Watkins
6.83
1 J. Pickford
6.83
2 E. Konsa
6.73
5 J. Stones
6.57
20 J. Bowen
6.18
16 M. Gibbs-White
5.92
3 M. Lewis-Skelly
5.56
18 R. Loftus-Cheek
5.40
8 J. Henderson
5.31
11 M. Rashford
5.23
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