Poland vs England LIVE: World Cup qualifying result, final score and reaction tonight

There is a story behind why Jude Bellingham normally wears the No 22 shirt and it illustrates why England should be excited about their teenage midfield prodigy.

When coming up through Birmingham City’s academy, Bellingham was eager to be fashioned into a No 10, sitting off a striker and letting all the attacking play run through him. Mike Dodds, Birmingham’s head of development, disagreed.

“We sat down with him and we said: ‘We think you’re doing yourself a disservice, we think you can do all of it’,” Dodds told talkSPORT earlier this year.

Speaking to ITV before kick off, Gareth Southgate spoke about England’s mindset and how they plan on dealing with Robert Lewandowski.

England have only lost one of their 20 matches against Poland in all competitions, with 12 wins and seven draws, losing 2-0 in Chorzow in a 1974 World Cup qualifier under Sir Alf Ramsey.

It was a defeat that led the Three Lions to fail to qualify for the tournament. However, England are unbeaten in their 17 games against the Poles since.

Jordan Pickford could be part of another record-breaking England backline on Wednesday night as he singled out his decision-making as his biggest improvement in recent months.

If the Three Lions can avoid conceding during their World Cup qualifier in Poland on Wednesday, they will register their 12th clean sheet of the calendar year, one more than they achieved in 1966 – the current best.

Poland striker Robert Lewandowski missed the game at Wembley but the country’s record goalscorer is back for this game.

The Bayern Munich striker has 72 goals in 124 caps and has netted 10 goals in just six games for club and country this season. He’s also bagged six goals across the first five games on Poland’s World Cup qualifying campaign and he didn’t play in one of them.

Gareth Southgate isn’t underestimating the threat that Poland pose this evening. He knows England will have to play well, be solid in defence and take their chances when they come.

Poland will come after England. They’re in a precarious situation in Group I as they contend with Hungary and Albania for second place. Victory over the Three Lions tonight would give them a huge boost towards a place at the World Cup next year.

Southgate said: “No two games are the same. The challenge will be different, we’ll have to defend better as a team and they’re going to ask some different types of questions.”

For Gareth Southgate, it’s almost going a little too well. The England manager can’t help but compare it to this time last year, when Harry Maguire had been arrested, Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood were banished from the squad and results took a stutter.

England are currently rolling right over any challenge in their way. They have won successive games 4-0, and the next away to Poland could well put the team on the brink of qualification for the 2022 World Cup.

The England team has arrived at the Narodowy Stadium and are preparing for the warm ups. The face a packed home crowd of close to 60,000 fans who will be keen to see them lose.

The players don’t look all that fussed about the prospect.

Poland are dependent on Robert Lewandowski. That hardly comes as a surprise, since the 33-year-old striker is considered to be the best player in the world by many, having won the best Fifa men’s player award in December 2020.

As Gareth Southgate’s team prepares for a qualifier in Warsaw on Wednesday, Lewandowski should be at the centre of their attention. With 72 goals in 124 games, he is Poland’s all-time top goalscorer.

Lewandowski might be the best centre-forward of his generation, having recently broken Gerd Muller’s record for most goals in the Bundesliga season with 41 but 15 years ago, no one thought Lewandowski would be the best player in the world.

England beat Poland 2-1 when the teams met back in March but the visitors that day were without record goalscorer Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich striker is back to face England tonight and Gareth Southgate is all too aware of the threat he will pose.

"Any team is going to miss a player of that calibre," he said. "We know he’s one of the best finishers in European football."

Southgate went on to compare Lewandowski with England captain Harry Kane, explaining how both display similar qualities in front of goal..

"They are both very good at holding the play up and bringing team-mates into play," he added.

"They are both outstanding finishers and there aren’t that many old-fashioned number nines, if you like.

"In fact, neither of them are old fashioned in the way they play because of that ability to link and come deeper and play passes in behind, but I suppose a number nine is a focal point of the attack, rather than flexible forwards that might play wide at times or might play as an inside forward."

In any case tonight’s match may be decided on which striker has the better game.