So we may never find out if Raheem Sterling would have been restored to the starting XI tonight.

If the reports we are getting are correct, then we're looking at a forward line of Phil Foden, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka.

We await the official announcement.

Raheem Sterling will play no part for the Three Lions tonight because of a "family matter", England say.

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport in Qatar

Image source, BBC Sport

Senegal are the pinnacle of African football, ranking highest of all the teams on the continent and the current holders of the prestigious Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

This is their third World Cup finals, having also qualified in 2002 when they reached the quarter-finals, and again in 2018 when they were knocked out in the group stages.

They are a nation improving on the global stage with several players now featuring regularly in Europe's top leagues, including the Premier League.

Click here to read why Senegal are a tough task for England in the last 16

Gareth Southgate says England's tag as "favourites" means nothing as they prepare for their World Cup last-16 meeting with Senegal.

The Three Lions meet African champions Senegal in their first knockout stage match in Qatar on Sunday at 19:00 GMT.

England qualified as Group B winners with a 3-0 win over Wales on Tuesday, while Senegal were runners-up behind the Netherlands in Group A.

"We will be considered favourites," Southgate said.

"But that doesn't really mean anything in a one-off game," the England boss added.

"It doesn't mean there isn't any pressure for Senegal because every international team has great pressure in their own nation and externally as well."

The meeting at Al Bayt Stadium is the first between the two nations and the winner will meet reigning champions France in the quarter-finals.

Celestine Karoney
BBC Sport Africa journalist on BBC Radio 5 Live

In Senegal, this is massive. If you look at back home. For African teams doing well in football, it's almost more than the sport. Because people live in that moment which takes the pressure away from the problems they face in life.

Football offers that moment where you forget everything. It's like a drug, so for them it is very important how the team does today.

If we talk about the Senegal camp here, Aliou Cisse, who they say had been unwell, is now ok. I have just been told that he will be on the touchline so that will give a lot of confidence as well - not just to fans at home but to the team in general. It will lift them a bit today.

Sean Dilley
BBC News correspondent

It’s difficult to measure, but the excitement is palpable here.

Two and a half hours before the game kicks off and already, around 100 people had bunched together at North London’s Box Park in Wembley.

Sisters Holly and Coral Lutteridge travelled with Holly’s boyfriend James Neville.

Holly says: “It is the knock outs but I do think we’ll get there and bring it home. Maybe it will go to extra time, but it will be coming home.

“We’ve been so close for four years so now is the time. It would just be such an uplifting event and they country’s been through so much in the last three or four years with the cost of living crisis, I just think we need something to bring us together.

"We need something to unite us and I think football does that."

Meanwhile, James predicts England will win 3-1 against Senegal, adding he is 98% confident of an England victory.

He says: "It’s a knock out stage so you never know what’s going to happen.

"There hasn’t been any upsets at the moment so there’s a chance."

Alan Shearer and Rio Ferdinand pick their preferred starting XIs for England's second round match against Senegal, with Gary Lineker suggesting Kyle Walker should be rested for a potential quarter-final match-up against France and Kylian Mbappe...

Image source, Getty Images

Senegal have some very talented players but the biggest weapon the African champions will have against England on Sunday is their mindset.

Aliou Cisse's side are winners, and they have crossed the line twice on two huge occasions already this year.

This team did the biggest thing they can do for their country when they beat Egypt in February to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time, and then they followed it up a few weeks later by beating the same opposition in their play-off to reach this World Cup.

So they have a manager who is loved, and a very confident group of players.

Whatever happens to them in this tournament now, they will still be celebrated, so they go into this last-16 tie with no fear of failure whatsoever - the pressure is all on England.

Read more here.

Jay: Dropping Rashford is just bizarre. I maintain that England got to the semi-final of the World Cup and the final of the Euros in spite of Southgate, not because of him. Just imagine how much further we could have gone with a decent manager.

Ahead of this last-16 tie, Senegal suffered two other big blows to their selection plans. The first is the injury suffered by Nottingham Forest midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate, who was stretchered off in their opening game with the Netherlands.

The second is the suspension of Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye, who picked up two yellow cards during the group stage, thus ruling him out tonight.

So that is both first-choice central midfielders absent.

One of the likely deputies is another Premier League lad - Nampalys Mendy of Leicester City.

Behind him will be goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who Chelsea fans will tell you are not immune to a mess up or two.

Further forward, it's more English-based players that the Three Lions need to worry about - Ismaila Sarr, the forward who seems to be perennially on the verge of leaving Watford, and Iliman Ndiaye, who you suspect will be a Premier League player next season with Sheffield United or someone else.

Keep an eye out too for Bamba Dieng, who Leeds were on the verge of signing in the summer but who reportedly binned them off to try and join Nice instead before failing a medical.

Rio Ferdinand
Former England defender on BBC One

Imagine hitting red hot form at a World Cup and then having to sit down on the bench.

It would blow my head off.

Gareth Southgate has got a lot of his decisions right. If it comes off we'll all be happy.

Image source, Getty Images

Before we get the confirmed England XI, let's have a look at the team you selected for this game with Senegal.

It includes both Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

So yeah, Senegal then.

What do we know about them? Well, the headlines are that they are the reigning Afcon champions, having claimed their very first title with victory over Egypt in the delayed 2021 tournament, played last year.

Their success in their own continent was largely built on a solid defence, which earned them five clean sheets en route to that Afcon win.

The other big headline regarding the Senegalese is the absence of one Sadio Mane, who all English football fans know well and will have been very worried about were he actually on the pitch for tonight's game. The injury he suffered on the eve of the World Cup has really hurt what was already a forward line sometimes lacking in a bit of creativity.

But don't let that fool you, England fans... this Senegal team are more than capable of causing some serious problems tonight.

Jermaine Jenas
Former England midfielder on BBC One

I just think Marcus Rashford was absolutely brilliant against Wales and I said this week I don't see how Gareth Southgate can leave him out.

But if Gareth turns to the bench at some point, he's turning to Rashford straight away.

You felt it would always be one of them because Bukayo Saka didn't deserve to be left out either.

Well, we know what the reward is for winning this game tonight.

Just a quarter-final with holders France. With an on-fire Kylian Mbappe. Gulp.

Here is how Didier Deschamps' side took down Poland in the last 16...

We have one bit of early team news...

England manager Gareth Southgate is set to recall Arsenal's Bukayo Saka for the Three Lions' last-16 match against Senegal tonight.

That will see Manchester United's Marcus Rashford return to the bench, despite his two goals against Wales in England's final group game on Tuesday.

Image source, Getty Images

England come into this last-16 game in better shape than at most World Cups, at least statistically speaking.

Their seven points and nine goals means they were the top performers of any nation in the group stage.

Only in 2018 (12) and 1966 (11) have they scored more in a single edition of the tournament - they reached the last four in the former and won the latter. Like you'd forget.

They also now have competition for places in a way few will be able to remember. Marcus Rashford, for example, didn't make the starting XI for the first two games, but emerged from the group stage as top scorer, netting three goals in just 107 minutes of action (one every 36 minutes).

Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Jordan Henderson, Jack Grealish - they've all put their hand up for inclusion.

When it comes to World Cup last-16 games, England have done it all.

They've won well, won unconvincingly, lost narrowly, lost awfully and both won and lost on penalties.

The Three Lions have actually only been eliminated from two of their seven round of 16 ties at the tournament, doing so against Germany in 2010 (1-4) and via penalty shootout against Argentina in 1998.

Tonight, they face their eighth last-16 tie in the world's biggest football tournament, when they face African champions Senegal at the Al Bayt Stadium.

So what are we going to get this time?