How Belgium will be three times stronger when they face England

Belgium face England in a crunch encounter on Thursday as the two sides battle it out to secure three straight wins and top spot in Group G.

Both sides have impressed to this point, with England in rampant form against Panama last time out after their 6-1 win, while Belgium swept aside Tunisia in a 5-2 victory.

In turn, it sets up an intriguing and potentially entertaining battle between the pair with plenty on the line still, but Belgium boss Roberto Martinez seemingly has several injury headaches ahead of him.

However, as per freelance injury analyst Ben Dinnery, as seen in his tweet below, he has noted that Martinez has no real concerns over Dries Mertens and Eden Hazard, although the next 48 hours will be crucial to determine whether or not Romelu Lukaku will be fit to feature.

Mertens [ankle] will rejoin the team in training on Tuesday. Hazard has a minor calf injury but Martinez says it’s nothing to worry about. The next 48 hrs will determine whether Lukaku will be involved vs England. “He had a scan today.” Kompany will be a part of the squad. #BEL

The Man Utd star has bagged four goals in the tournament so far, leaving him just one behind England forward Harry Kane and level with Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the golden boot.

While he may well be desperate to continue to feature and score goals, it might be a sensible decision from Belgium to avoid taking any risks and leaving him out to fully recover for their last-16 outing, while the same could be said of Hazard and Mertens too.

England boss Gareth Southgate may also choose to rotate and make changes, but neither side will want to lose any momentum either. As a result, both should arguably put out as strong a side as possible to protect their 100% record heading into the knockout stage.