England’s defence has been one of the major talking points and concerns as they prepare to face Serbia in their opening match.

But former Three Lions goalkeeper and BBC pundit Joe Hart doesn’t see it being “as big an issue as it might appear”.

“Inside the England camp there will be no concerns – I was in enough squads in my career to know that they will be ready,” he said.

“I would imagine Southgate will set things up so whoever plays it won’t matter. That way each player can bring their own individual qualities to their position, but the team will always be well organised.”

Manchester City defender John Stones is expected to partner Marc Guehi in the absence of Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire and Hart says they will “know each other well”.

“They have also been training together every day in the run-up to this tournament,” he added. “I am sure they will feel very comfortable with each other, and they will understand exactly what their roles are.

Former England defender and BBC pundit Micah Richards doesn’t expect to see a “fluid” England against Serbia.

He said: “If you look at the World Cup with Argentina versus Saudi Arabia, they lost that game and went on to win a World Cup. You can’t be too disheartened by it.

“From an England point of view, it’s how they set up. I think it’s good we’ve got strength in depth but we need a plan and we need to stick to the plan to settle the nerves so the confidence builds.

“What England have to do is starve Serbia of the ball. Make it hard for them. So when they’re hitting the balls long, they’re just hopeless balls going to the striker.

“We know how dangerous [Aleksandar] Mitrovic can be from crosses. We do have to be careful with that.”