sport news World Cup: Here's who the stats show should start for England against Iran in ... trends now
The squad has been picked, the bags have been packed and the players have flown to the tiny gulf nation of Qatar. The time for talking is - almost - over.
Gareth Southgate's England side have made it to their Al Wakrah base ahead of their opening Group B game against Iran on Monday, the start of what the manager hopes will be another successful campaign at a major tournament.
But which 11 players will don the famous Three Lions shirt on Monday afternoon? Southgate undoubtedly knows - or at least has an idea of - the XI he will select for the clash with Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Yet it may be very different from what the statistics show. Here, Sportsmail takes you through the team which the numbers say Southgate should pick for their eagerly-awaited first game in Qatar.
Gareth Southgate's side have made it to Qatar ahead of their World Cup opener versus Iran
England's 26-man squad arrived in Doha on Tuesday, with their first match set for Monday
GOALKEEPER - Nick Pope
While Jordan Pickford is widely expected to get the nod for the No 1 jersey in England's opener, the statistics suggest it should in fact be Newcastle's Nick Pope between the sticks.
Pope has more clean sheets, fewer goals conceded per game and fewer defensive errors than Pickford.
The Newcastle stopper has clean sheet percentage of 50 per cent, more than double Pickford's figure, and has only made one defensive error compared with the three made by Southgate's preferred option.
Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope has outperformed Jordan Pickford so far this season
Pickford has a higher amount of saves per game - 4.29 - and saves from inside the box, but the Newcastle man is ahead on every other statistical metric analysed.
Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale is a distant third, although he has the same clean sheet percentage - 50 per cent - as Pope following the Gunners' flying opening to the Premier League season.
His goals conceded per game of 0.81 is also less than Pickford's 1.21, although that is largely because Everton have shipped far more than Mikel Arteta's side.
Ramsdale was chosen as the third goalkeeper seemingly ahead of Nottingham Forest's Dean Henderson - a decision supported by the statistics from the season so far.
Pope came out on top in an analysis of England's three 'keepers - graphic by sofascore.com
CENTRE-BACKS - John Stones and Eric Dier
England's defensive injury crisis has hampered the build-up to the tournament for Southgate and left the England manager with far fewer choices than he might have hoped for.
But at centre-back, it is loss of form - as well as frequent spells on the treatment table - that are causing Southgate a headache or two.
John Stones, Harry Maguire, Eric Dier and Conor Coady, with the option of an injured Kyle Walker, have been picked as centre-backs for Qatar in England's squad.
With Walker unlikely to be fit for the group stage, Southgate may be forced into playing a back four instead of his usual five.
Eric Dier could be given the nod to start at centre-back with Manchester City's John Stones
Stones appears to have nailed down one of the two starting spots despite his patchy injury record since August.
The Manchester City defender has played the second-fewest number of matches - 11 - of the four but has the highest number of tackles per game and is second only to Dier, who has played twice as many games, when it comes to successful duels.
The 28-year-old has the most assists with two and has also chipped in with one goal, the same as Coady but in three fewer matches.
Stones' partner in Qatar, should Southgate go with a back four, should be Dier, according to the statistics.
The Tottenham man has the highest amount of duels won, interceptions and goals scored, and joint-highest number of accurate long balls, as well as the second-most tackles behind Stones.
But he is the only one of the four contenders to have been dribbled past this season.
FULL-BACKS - Trent Alexander-Arnold (RB) and
