Trent Alexander-Arnold - England National Team (Photo: Nigel French/PA Wire.)

Oxlade-Chamberlain assists but Trent struggles as England thrash Kosovo

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both started for England on Sunday evening, as they won 4-0 away to Kosovo.

The Three Lions finished their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a trip to Pristina, having already qualified for next summer’s tournament.

Both Alexander-Arnold and Oxlade-Chamberlain were again named in Gareth Southgate’s starting lineup, as was the case in Thursday’s 7-0 trouncing of Montenegro at Wembley.

Joe Gomez and Jordan Henderson were not part of proceedings, having returned to Liverpool with respective knee and illness issues.

Liverpool fans watched on with concern early on, as Oxlade-Chamberlain twice went down clutching his ankle.

The 26-year-old was able to carry on, though, and it wasn’t long before he stamped his authority on the match, setting up Harry Winks with a slick pass, allowing the Tottenham man to make it 1-0.

Alexander-Arnold was less noticeable than his Reds team-mate, struggling to enjoy the same level of influence as he has at club level this season.

In fact, some of his end product left a lot to be desired and he was caught out defensively on a few occasions.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was replaced by Mason Mount with 18 minutes remaining—he will have been pleased with the impact he made, despite fading as the match went on.

Mount, Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford all scored deep into the second half to clinch victory for England, with Alexander-Arnold coming off late on.

He and Oxlade-Chamberlain will now return to Liverpool duty, where their attention swiftly turns to next Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Sadio Mane was brought off at half-time as Senegal sealed a 4-1 win over Eswatini, having picked up a yellow card in stoppage time.

Naby Keita started and played the full 90 minutes as Guinea won 2-0 at home to Namibia, producing an excellent performance to follow up from his goal in the 2-2 draw with Mali on Thursday.