How England could line up in Thomas Tuchel's first match in charge including Ben White and other shock recalls

Thomas Tuchel will take charge of England for the first time on March 21, but how could his side line up?

Tuchel, 51, was appointed as head coach of the Three Lions in October but did not officially start in his role until January.

The German will be keen to assess his options ahead of the March international break, during which England will play Albania and Latvia at Wembley on March 21 and 24.

On March 13, he will name his first squad, and fans will be eager to see if any players receive call-ups for the first time.

James Maddison, who has not played for England since before Euro 2024 last June, revealed that Tuchel had “touched base”.

“I think he was reaching out to a lot of players who would be in the selection, probably quite a big pool of players that the FA have identified,” explained the Tottenham midfielder.

But who else could be reintroduced to the England set-up?

Arsenal right-back Ben White has not played for the Three Lions since March 2022 and made himself unavailable for selection after he returned home from the Qatar World Cup for personal reasons.

Tuchel has ‘held talks’ with the Arsenal defender about a potential return to the national team, according to BBC Sport,

Ben White has 'held talks' with Thomas Tuchel (Credit:Getty)

White, 27, will compete with the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James, Tino Livramento and Kyle Walker for a spot in Tuchel’s side, but the German’s preferred choice will no doubt become clearer after his first two games in charge.

Cole Palmer is also likely to play a bigger part with the national team after an impressive campaign at Chelsea this term.

“It was frustrating at England, to be fair,” Palmer told GQ in November when speaking about Euro 2024.

“Not to say that the players aren’t good. But just coming off the back of the season I had, the form I was in, everything I was doing was coming off.

“So I’m not playing in the first two games even when the team was struggling, it was a bit like, ‘Why?’ Do you know what I mean?”

But what could Tuchel’s first England XI look like? Below SPORTbible has predicted how the Three Lions could line up.

Pickford; White, Guehi, Branthwaite; Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Bellingham, Hall; Palmer, Maddison; Kane.