An England World Cup campaign built upon the most cautious of optimism begins on Monday night against Tunisia, who enter the tournament riding something of a footballing high – they rose to their strongest ever standing in the FIFA rankings of 14th place in April, albeit since dropping down to 21st – and could accordingly spring a few surprises on their better-fancied Group G opposition.

And it would only be typical England to fall victim and slip up on a Tunisia-shaped banana skin at the Volgograd Arena, just when Gareth Southgate’s side were showing all the signs of becoming an efficient and entertaining team.

But England remain the standout favourites for the Tunisia clash, so how could this one pan out? Here’s everything you need to know before the 7pm kickoff…

Head-to-Head

Monday night marks England and Tunisia’s second meeting at a World Cup and third meeting in total – after a 1-1 draw in a warm-up friendly ahead of Italia 1990, the Three Lions calmly dispensed of Tunisia in a 2-0 win in the Group Stages of the 1998 World Cup when both countries were once again situated in Group G.

Of course, England boast far greater World Cup experience than their coming opposition, taking part in ten more World Cups and even lifting the trophy back in 1966 – not that you need any more reminders of England’s single success at a major international tournament. However, Tunisia actually enter the tournament with an older squad and there isn’t too much to choose between either country in terms of international experience – Tunisia have ten players with over 20 caps, whereas England have twelve.

Neither team lost in qualifying, but whereas England claimed eight victories Tunisia could only manage half of that from their six group games.

Tunisia danger men

Anice Badri – He may have struggled to make much of an impact during his time in Europe with Lille and Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz but the 27-year-old winger has been Tunisia’s most noteworthy threat during the warmup friendlies, scoring against both Portugal and Turkey. He’s a speedy and strong winger with good finishing, but perhaps his greatest quality is his movement and specifically how well he times his runs.

Wahbi Khazri – Probably Tunisia’s most well-known player, at least from an England perspective having played a key role in keeping Sunderland in the Premier League during Sam Allardyce’s short spell in charge. The 27-year-old is the top scorer in Tunisia’s World Cup squad with twelve goals and that’s largely because he plays as their centre-forward rather than a wide-man – a role that saw him really impress on loan at Rennes last season. His pace and quality when shooting from long range poses the biggest threat to an England victory.

Ellyes Skhiri – The defensive midfielder doesn’t inject star quality into the team in the same way as Badri and Khazri but he’ll have a key role to play at the base of this engine room in protecting the defence. Furthermore, the 23-year-old is a decent talent – for Montpellier last season, he averaged 2.6 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per match while completing 86% of his passes. He’ll be crucial in stopping Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard drive on from midfield.

Team News

Southgate seems pretty set on what he views as England’s strongest starting XI but there have been a few late races for players to make certain positions their own. Perhaps the most obvious is on the left flank, but Manchester United’s Ashley Young appears to have fended off competition from Tottenham’s Danny Rose – perhaps because he offers an extra weapon in his set piece deliveries, perhaps because the Spurs man struggled for game-time throughout much of last season.

Elsewhere, despite impressing against Nigeria Gary Cahill looks set to miss out to Harry Maguire simply because the Leicester City defender’s ability to play out of the back fits so perfectly into Southgate’s game-plan, while another Spurs star in Eric Dier will likely have to start on the bench in favour of Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson. The 39-cap midfielder is that bit more experienced and probably a little more productive with the ball.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek probably hasn’t done quite enough to force out Lingard who, along with Alli, will perform a crucial role in being part of both the midfield and the attack. Jordan Pickford, meanwhile, appears to be Southgate’s preferred choice of goalkeeper due to his distribution more than anything else.

The only injury concern is Marcus Rashford – the youngster missed a few days of training last week but should be fit enough to make the bench.