England boss Gareth Southgate breaks run that lasted for nearly 30 years with team selection in friendly victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina

Gareth Southgate chose to experiment with his team selection in Monday’s friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina and in doing so he broke a long-standing record.

The Three Lions began their preparations for Euro 2024 with a fairly comfortable 3-0 win at St James’ Park.

Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kane got the goals in a game where Southgate chose to start with a second string side.

The likes of Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier, Eberechi Eze, Conor Gallagher and Ollie Watkins all featured in a much-changed starting XI.

In fact the team was such a break from the norm that a surprising stat emerged in the aftermath

For the first time since November 1994 – when England came up against Nigeria at Wembley – England named a starting XI without a single player from Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United or Spurs.

Southgate explained the reasoning behind his team selection ahead of kick-off.

‘Some players need minutes, the whole group that have been with us for five, six days have had a couple of weeks without a game, so everybody’s going to benefit from that,’ he said.

The England starting XI featured no player from Arsenal, Man City, Man United or Spurs

‘There’s a big physical aspect to what we’re looking at periodisation wise. And then an opportunity to see some combinations, and see people in different positions, perhaps some players with fewer caps than others.’

Southgate added: ‘That international experience playing at what will be a brilliant atmosphere is always important. So lots of different objectives. I think the boys will play well.’