Kevin Kilbane believes England will have to be aware of Sweden’s threat from set-pieces if they are to triumph in their World Cup quarter-final.

Gareth Southgate has named an unchanged starting XI for the clash in Samara as the Three Lions bid to make a World Cup semi-final for the first time in 28 years.

Sweden advanced from a group containing world champions Germany and are considered to be underdogs for the fixture against England.

And Kilbane is expecting a tough afternoon for Southgate’s side against one of the tournament’s most defensively solid teams.

“If you look at the teams man-for-man, England should be winning this game,” Kilbane told Off The Ball.

“If Sweden play 4-4-2 against England today you would imagine it will become a 4-6. One of the centre forwards, either [Ola] Toivonen or [Marcus] Berg will be dropping in a bit deeper trying to leave one or the other up front.

“It’s going to be very much a team that sits back in. Where is the real pace in this side that’s going to hurt England? I don’t see them having a lot of pace.

“Something that their coach has spoken about in the lead up to this game has been set-pieces – that is the way in for Sweden – that is how they are going to win the game.

“They are very good on set-pieces, I think it’s something they’ve worked on in the lead up to the tournament and that is where I feel they may get something out of this match.”

The winners will go on to face Russia or Croatia in the semi-finals before a potential final encounter with either Belgium or France.

James Hopper