England will play their first match without Gareth Southgate in the dugout when they take on the Republic of Ireland.

Southgate quit his post in the wake of England's 2-1 defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 2024 in July.

That ended a hugely successful eight-year stint for Southgate when it came to turning around the fortunes of the Three Lions, and restoring England's pride in the national team.

Yet for all the promise and potential, England could not get over the line when it truly mattered, falling short in two Euros finals, and a World Cup semi-final.

England had endured a miserable Nations League campaign before their exploits in Germany, and in hindsight, it showed that perhaps Southgate's magic was wearing off.

Now in League B, having been relegated from League A, England's first match after Southgate sees them face an old rival, as former Ireland international Lee Carsley aims to prove his credentials to the Football Association (FA).

Having won last year's Under-21 Euros, Carsley will surely be hoping he can follow in Southgate's footsteps in transferring from the youth set up to the senior side.

Here, using Opta data, we delve into the key talking points ahead of Saturday's clash in Dublin.

What's expected?

It's always hard to fully gauge what a team will look like under a new manager, especially in international football. 

That being said, while we do not quite know what Carsley's England will look like, we can be sure that they are the favourites for this one, with Opta's supercomputer handing them a 70.4% win probability.

Ireland, on the other hand, have been given just a 13.2% win likelihood, while the threat of a draw is 16.5%.

This is England's first game without Southgate in charge since a 1-0 win over Slovakia in September 2016 in Sam Allardyce's one and only game.

Including caretakers, only four managers have lost their first game in charge of the Three Lions: Alf Ramsey (2-5 vs France in 1963), Howard Wilkinson (0-2 vs France in 1999), Peter Taylor (0-1 vs Italy in 2000) and Stuart Pearce (2-3 vs Netherlands at the 2012 Olympics when coaching Team GB).

It is fair to say Carsley, who played 40 times for Ireland between 1997 and 2008, has history on his side. Will he continue those strong records?

New blood

Carsley, as expected, freshened up his squad with some new faces. Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White, Tino Livramento and Noni Madueke all made the cut.

Gomes, Gibbs-White and Madueke made 50 appearances combined for Carsley in the U21s, so it is not a huge surprise to see the trio given a shot, while Livramento has usurped Kieran Trippier, who has now retired from international football, at Newcastle United this season.

At last year's U21 Euros, Carsley's team scored 11 goals in six games, outperforming their 8.5 expected goals (xG) and, despite not dominating possession, averaging 56.4%, they scored the most build-up goals at the tournament (seven) - a build-up goal is an open play sequence that features 10+ passes and ends in a goal.

Given England performed so poorly, relative to the quality at their disposal, in attack at Euro 2024, perhaps Carsley's approach can help get the best out of that star-studded frontline, albeit Phil Foden, Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer have all withdrawn from the squad.

Indeed, England have scored just 13 goals in 11 games in 2024, having netted 26 in 10 games in 2023. Their 2024 average of 1.2 goals per game is their lowest in a year since 2000 (exactly one per game, 11 goals in 11 games), so Carsley has a relatively low bar to improve on.

What about the defence, though? Southgate was a pragmatic manager, and in fairness, England only allowed 7.3 xG against through their seven matches at Euro 2024.

However, they have shipped the opening goal in each of their last four matches, all in the knockout stages in Germany (W2 D1 L1). The Three Lions have not conceded the opener in five games in a row since between November 1953 and June 1954.

And going back to that U21 Euros, Carsley's side did not concede a single goal, albeit the xGA metric suggests they should have conceded at least seven.

While the fresh faces in England's squad will be looking to stake a claim, Jack Grealish has been handed a reprieve after missing out on Euro 2024. And, right at the top of the pitch, there is the experience and world-class finishing ability of Harry Kane, who is closing in on his 100th cap - should he play in Dublin, that will be appearance number 99 for his country.

Ireland's new era

It is not just Carsley that is making his bow in the dugout on Saturday. Heimir Hallgrimsson is Ireland's new boss, with the former Jamaica and Iceland coach having been appointed earlier in the summer.

Hallgrimsson has previous with England, of course. He was in joint charge of Iceland when they knocked Roy Hodgson's Three Lions out of Euro 2016.

The only manager to defeat England with two different nations is Bora Milutinovic, in 1985 with Mexico and in 1993 with the United States.

And what better way to start a new era than a big win over a big rival?

This is the first time Ireland will host England since a goalless draw in a friendly in June 2015. In a competitive match, it is the first time since a November 1990 European Championship qualifier, drawn 1-1 with Tony Cascarino cancelling out David Platt's opener for the Three Lions.

England also won their last meeting with Ireland in November 2020 – they have not won consecutive games against them since doing so with wins in 1980 and 1985.

Ireland last beat England in 1995, though the sides have only met each other three times since, with two draws and one win for England: that 3-0 triumph in 2020.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Republic of Ireland - Evan Ferguson

Ferguson could not quite get going last season after a bright start for Brighton, but he is still one of the Premier League's most exciting youngsters.

The striker is Ireland's big hope going forward and will be out to make his mark against one of the best teams in the world.

England - Harry Kane

Kane ranks 10th on the all-time list of England caps and has made 85 starts, playing 7,616 minutes, directly contributing to 83 goals (66 goals – an England record – and 17 assists). He averages 0.78 goals per 90, and 0.98 goal contributions per 90.

Indeed, Kane averages a goal every 115 minutes for his country, and he will surely be the key man for Carsley as the interim manager looks to capitalise on this audition.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin came off the bench to deny Newcastle victory but could not spare Everton an unwanted record of 13 Premier League games without victory.

The England international converted an 87th-minute penalty – his first goal since October – to cancel out Alexander Isak’s first-half opener and secure a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park as the Magpies were made to pay for missed chances.

Dan Burn had seen a second-half strike ruled out for offside after a VAR review and both sides were denied by the woodwork and ultimately neither got what they really needed.

Having lost Tino Livramento, Jamaal Lascelles and Miguel Almiron to injury and Anthony Gordon to suspension, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was forced to make changes.

Loan signing Lewis Hall was handed just a second league start as he, Emil Krafth, Elliot Anderson and Saturday’s match-winner Harvey Barnes were drafted in.

An Everton side bolstered by the inclusion of Vitaly Mykolenko, Idrissa Gueye, Ashley Young and Beto found itself under early pressure and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had to make a vital block from Barnes with less than two minutes gone.

Gueye smashed a left-foot shot over after Dwight McNeil had expertly controlled Pickford’s long ball and squared, and James Tarkowski powered a header just too high from a McNeil free-kick as the Toffees responded.

However, it was the Magpies who took the lead with 15 minutes gone when Barnes lifted the ball over the top for Isak, who cut inside Jarrad Branthwaite and evaded the covering Tarkowski before drilling a low shot past the helpless Pickford.

Jacob Murphy blasted a 28th-minute drive just over as the Everton defence retreated in front of him, but Beto sliced an attempt horribly wide and Abdoulaye Doucoure curled a 43rd-minute shot into Martin Dubravka’s waiting arms at the other end.

Pickford blocked Murphy’s volley with his legs after Hall had floated a cross beyond the far post and Isak blasted just too high in stoppage time as Newcastle headed in at the break in control but knowing there was work still to be done.

Tarkowski was relieved to see his attempted clearance from a Murphy corner come back off the frame of his own goal, and the Magpies thought they had extended their lead with 58 minutes gone when Isak turned Murphy’s quickly-taken free-kick across goal and Burn fired home, but a VAR check ruled that the Sweden international had been offside.

The visitors came desperately close to an equaliser with 66 minutes gone when substitute James Garner turned smartly and fired beyond Dubravka only to see his effort come back off the foot of a post.

Mykolenko headed Isak’s goal-bound shot off the line and Barnes blazed across the face of goal in quick succession and although Dubravka palmed away Young’s well-struck shot, Pickford had to save from Bruno Guimaraes seconds later.

However, the Toffees were handed a way back into the game with just three minutes remaining when referee Tony Harrington was advised to review substitute Paul Dummett’s clumsy challenge on Young and Calvert-Lewin duly obliged from the spot.

Eddie Howe is hoping there is more to come from Newcastle after seeing them secure a first home win of 2024 and the 100th of his Premier League career.

The Magpies had not tasted victory at St James’ Park since they beat Fulham 3-0 on December 16, but they ended that run by beating injury-hit Wolves by the same scoreline to suggest they could finally be emerging from a difficult run.

Coming four days after they edged past Sky Best Championship Blackburn into the FA Cup quarter-finals, the win left head coach Howe in positive mood.

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He said: “Sometimes you just have to find a way to get over the finishing line and you know then that there are better performances ahead. I think we were in that moment today.

“I don’t think today was ever going to be a classic Newcastle performance, but I think it’s a building bridge closer to where we want to be.

“I thought Blackburn was very similar. We got through, that was the main thing. Today was slightly better again and I’d like to think now with the strength of the group returned that we will hopefully see continued improvement in performances.”

Newcastle were happy to sit back and try to hit the visitors on the break during the first half, and the ploy paid handsome dividends when Alexander Isak headed home after Bruno Guimaraes’ shot had been half blocked and then Anthony Gordon slotted into an empty net after goalkeeper Jose Sa had collided with team-mate Max Kilman.

Asked if the ploy had worked as he had hoped, Howe, who lost Kieran Trippier to a calf problem, added: “It was a slight tweak from our normal way of playing. We analyse our opposition, like we do always.

“There are always tweaks and little things we try to do to help us in our performance, and that was one today, to try to maybe play a slightly more transitional game.”

Wolves, who were without injured duo Hwang Hee-chan – he is expected to be sidelined for around six weeks by a hamstring injury – and Matheus Cunha and lost both Sa and Pedro Neto at half-time, gave as good as they got for long periods, but found Magpies keeper Martin Dubravka in resilient form again.

Their day was done when substitute Tino Livramento capped a good afternoon for the hosts in stoppage time with a fine solo run and finish to wrap up the win.

Head coach Gary O’Neill, however, was not convinced about the merits of Howe’s game plan.

He said: “There’s no way that Newcastle let us have a lot of the ball. We had a lot of the ball because we were really good with the ball.

“I know Eddie Howe, I know Newcastle. They press everybody, especially at home. The reason we had the ball was our quality and how good we were with it.”

O’Neil added: “I thought structurally we were the better side, had real control of the game, control of the ball, so I’m really proud of the group for what they gave today.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe will head into the Champions League showdown with AC Milan desperate to continue a journey which has captivated him.

Howe, who turned 46 on Wednesday, did so still ruminating on the controversial 1-1 draw at Paris St Germain on Tuesday evening, which left the Magpies needing to beat the Serie A giants at St James’ Park on December 13 and hope the French champions do not win at Borussia Dortmund if they are to emerge from Group F.

Newcastle had come within a few minutes of stoppage-time of a famous victory at the Parc des Princes when a questionable handball decision against Tino Livramento handed Kylian Mbappe the chance to snatch a point, and it was one he took with some aplomb.

However, asked afterwards how much he had enjoyed the competition to date and how keen he was to extend that adventure, Howe said: “I’ve loved every second of it and I’m desperate to stay in it.

“We have been thrown in at the deep end against high-class opposition, some great stadiums and brilliant atmospheres and we are desperate to stay in the competition, and to show a better version of ourselves. We’d love the opportunity to do it.”

Should the Magpies beat Milan, they would have eight points and that would mean PSG, who already have seven, would have to win in Germany against the already-qualified Bundesliga side as the Premier League club would have the better of the head-to-head if they finished level.

Howe was angry with the penalty decision, which he described as “poor”, but his sense of injustice masked a belief that there could be another twist to come.

He said: “I think we have to look that we’re still in the competition. The first thing to do is look at that because it could have been different tonight, so that game now is going to take on huge significance for lots of different reasons.

“We’re back at home and we’re excited about the game when it comes around, so they’re huge positives for us. That’s why I don’t think we should lose sight of that despite the disappointing ending.”

The Magpies travelled to Paris with a raft of key players still injured and so little experience on the bench that the team which started also finished, some of them clearly running on fumes.

However, Howe was proud of the resilience they showed as PSG piled on the pressure, with goalkeeper Nick Pope making a series of fine saves while the men in front of him defended for dear life until fate intervened.

Their manager, who now faces the task of lifting the team for Saturday’s league clash with Manchester United at St James’, paid tribute to the spirit within the camp, which was exemplified in the face of a French onslaught.

He said: “We’ve shown that despite the huge number of players – quality players – not being here, the group has stepped up and given more.

“We’ve shown that the spirit and togetherness and the willingness to fight for each other is as good as I’ve ever seen it at any football club since I’ve been involved in the game, and we’re very proud to represent Newcastle, as I’ve said many times before, but especially on the European stage.

“Hopefully we can give them a reason for everyone to be proud of us back in Newcastle.”

Eddie Howe was left fuming after Paris St Germain denied Newcastle a priceless Champions League victory with a controversial stoppage-time penalty.

The Magpies were heading for a famous 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes until Polish referee Szymon Marciniak awarded a spot-kick against Tino Livramento after a VAR review, allowing Kylian Mbappe to level in the eighth and final minute of added time.

Howe, who said in a television interview that the official had been placed under “extreme” pressure by the PSG players, labelled a decision which cost his side two precious points “poor” in his post-match press conference.

Asked if he felt a sense of injustice, the Newcastle boss said: “Yes, I do. It wasn’t the right decision in my opinion.

“There are so many things to take into account at that moment, the speed first. It was a ricochet that when it is slowed down, looks completely different to the live event.

“The ball hits his chest first, comes up and hits his hand. But his hand is not in an unnatural position, they [his hands] are down by his side, but he is in a running motion.

“I feel it is a poor decision and it’s hugely frustrating for us as you know how little time there is left in the game. There is nothing we can do about it now.”

The pivotal moment arrived in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Ousmane Dembele attempted to deliver the ball across the Newcastle penalty area and saw it hit Livramento’s side and rear up on to the underside of his arm.

Mr Marciniak, who had earlier seen decisions not to award spot-kicks for an Anthony Gordon challenge on Achraf Hakimi and a shout for handball against teenager midfielder Lewis Miley upheld, was advised to review the incident and this time decided to award the penalty.

The Magpies, who had taken a 24th-minute lead through Alexander Isak, defended it for grim life until the last-gasp controversy, although they needed Pope to be at his brilliant best on several occasions.

They now need to beat AC Milan at home on December 13 and hope PSG do not win away to Borussia Dortmund to progress.

Asked if that was something to cling on to, Howe, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Wednesday, said: “Yes, I think that’s absolutely right. In the next couple of days, that will become more relevant in our thoughts, I think.

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“When the draw came out, it was the ‘group of death’ and I don’t think many people gave us a chance of qualifying from it and sitting here now, I’m a little bit frustrated that it’s not in our hands because when I look back at the two Dortmund games, I felt we could have done better in those matches.

“I don’t think it’s the time for that, I think it’s probably a time to be positive and to say that if we can beat Milan, then good things can happen from it.”

For PSG boss Luis Enrique, there was a mixture of relief and frustration on a night when his side created a host of chances but were unable to take any of them until Mbappe’s late intervention.

Enrique said: “Without a doubt, we played a very great game. We deserved to win. We played better than Newcastle. The result does not reflect what happened on the pitch.

“It’s not basketball. We are one of the teams in Europe that scores the most. Sometimes the ball doesn’t want to go in.

“Sometimes the game looked like table tennis. I couldn’t believe we couldn’t score, but we carried on despite the frustration.”

Tino Livramento has returned to the England Under-21s squad for the first time in over 18 months.

The Newcastle defender has not featured since March 2022, having suffered a serious knee injury a month later which ruled him out for over a year.

He has made four appearances for Newcastle since his £32million move from Southampton in August.

Aaron Ramsey has also returned, with Brentford goalkeeper Matthew Cox – currently on loan at Bristol Rovers – Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah, Hull’s Jaden Philogene and Jonathan Rowe of Norwich given their first call ups for the Euro qualifiers against Serbia and Ukraine.

Boss Lee Carsley said: “Tino is a player we rate highly, it’s going to be good to have him back in and around the squad.

“He’s been out for a while injured, so we’ll be looking to support him and Newcastle with that.

“Jaden and Jonathan are both doing really well with their clubs at the minute – they’re players who are in form which is always a good position for us to be in.

“We also have Jarell Quansah in the squad for the first time. He’s been getting game time at Liverpool which, as we know, is a really tough team to get into for any player, so he deserves to be a part of this squad.”

The Young Lions, the defending champions, host Serbia in Group F at the City Ground next Thursday before facing Ukraine in Slovakia on October 16.

Carsley added: “We always talk about the players pushing each other and we should never be in a position where we’re doing a copy and paste of the squad list.

“The players need to know they have to keep performing, either with their clubs or when they’re on camp with us.

“There are some players in the squad who weren’t with us last time and there are four or five who are really close to getting in this squad.

“When we look at the Elite League squad (previously Under-20s), that’s also a very competitive age group and we want to have them in the position where they are pushing these players in the older age group.”

England Under-21 squad: Beadle (Oxford, on loan from Brighton), Cox (Bristol Rovers, on loan from Brentford), Trafford (Burnley); Branthwaite (Everton), Cresswell (Leeds), Harwood-Bellis (Southampton, on loan from Manchester City), Humphreys (Swansea, on loan from Chelsea), Lewis (Manchester City), Livramento (Newcastle), Norton-Cuffy (Millwall, on loan from Arsenal), Quansah (Liverpool); Elliott (Liverpool), Hackney (Middlesbrough), McAtee (Sheffield United, loan from Manchester City), Patino (Swansea City, on loan from Arsenal), Ramsey (Burnley); Bynoe-Gittens (Borussia Dortmund), Delap (Hull, on loan from Manchester City), Iling-Junior (Juventus), Madueke (Chelsea), Palmer (Chelsea), Philogene (Hull), Rowe (Norwich)

Newcastle have completed the signing of Southampton defender Tino Livramento for an undisclosed fee.

The England Under-21 international has agreed a five-year deal with the Magpies after the two clubs agreed a reported fee which could rise to around £35million.

Livramento told the club’s official website: “I’m really excited to have signed for Newcastle United and I’m looking forward to playing in front of the fans.

“I was here for the games over the weekend; even though they were friendlies, there were so many fans and they were still so loud so I can’t wait to see what it feels like to play in front of them in a Premier League or Champions League game.

“The way the manager plays football is really attractive and I feel like it suits me as a player. And with how well the team did last season, the trajectory that we’re on now, I’m just looking forward to being a part of that.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has now added three new players to his squad this summer following the arrivals of Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali from AC Milan and winger Harvey Barnes from Leicester.

Livramento, 20, who signed a five-year deal when he joined Southampton from Chelsea for £5m in August 2021, missed all but the final two games last season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in April 2022.

He returned to action in May, making two substitute appearances in Southampton’s final two Premier League games before they were relegated.

Newcastle will play Champions League football next season after finishing fourth in Howe’s first full campaign in charge.

Howe added: “Tino is a very talented young player with an exciting future ahead of him so we are delighted to sign him.

“At 20, he already has lots of attributes that I admire but he also has the potential and drive to really grow with this team. I’m looking forward to working with him and to seeing him develop in a Newcastle shirt.”