England laboured at times but ended their first international window under Thomas Tuchel with six World Cup qualification points thanks to a 3-0 victory against Latvia on Monday evening.
Having faced a resolute Albanian side on Friday, England were expected to have an easier evening in their first ever meeting with Latvia but the visitors proved equally adept at frustrating their hosts and the Wembley crowd and should have taken a shock lead before Reece James produced a moment of quality from a free-kick to break the deadlock before half-time.
Harry Kane repeated Friday's feat of making the points safe with a clinching second goal before subsitute Eberechi Eze put the gloss on the scoreline.
Tuchel had made four changes from the Albania game with James, Marc Guehi, Morgan Rogers and Jarrod Bowen starting while Kyle Walker came off the bench late on to earn a 95th England cap and remain on course to hit the century later this year.
Six points out of six for England gives them a head start in qualifying over Serbia, likely to be their closest challengers but who have been in Nations League action during this window, showing their quality with an aggregate win against a good Austrian side.
In Monday evening's other game in the group there was a comfortable 3-0 victory for Albania at home to minnows Andorra who are England's next opponents but not until June 7th, a long wait for Tuchel to take his next steps on the road to 2026.
