The Three Lions' relegation from League A of UEFA's regular competition last time out means they are now seeking a return back to the top tier during the 2024-25 campaign.

Those hopes were in the balance heading into tonight's match after October's 2-1 defeat to Greece at Wembley Stadium meant England were three points and three goals below the same opposition heading into the final two games.

However, tonight's 3-0 win in Athens means Lee Carsley's side have gone top of League B Group B by a goal difference of three heading into Sunday's final pool game at home to the Republic of Ireland.

With only the top team in each pool automatically moving up to League A and the second team going into play-off matches with a side who finishes third in League A, England know they will probably need a victory over the Republic of Ireland - whilst still being aware of their goal difference - especially with Greece playing Finland, who are yet to pick up a point.

Madueke played a big part in England taking the lead in just the seventh minute tonight as the Chelsea winger's clever flick to Bellingham saw the Real Madrid star return the ball to our man wide right. The 22-year-old then burst past the Greece defenders to the byline and pulled the ball back for Ollie Watkins to open the scoring.

Madueke had already seen a goal-bound effort blocked by this point and he almost grabbed a deserved goal when he forced Odysseas Vlachodimos into a stop later in the first half.

The Londoner would end up being taken off in the 66th minute after another impressive performance for England, who secured another two potentially critical goals late on through an own-goal and an exquisite flick from Curtis Jones.

It was another proud night for the Chelsea academy too, as the Three Lions' starting line-up included Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher, there was a senior debut for academy graduate Lewis Hall and there were another two of our graduates on the bench in Tino Livramento and Dominic Solanke.

In League A, Christopher Nkunku was unable to help France find the breakthrough against Israel after he came on as a 71st minute substitute for Bradley Barcola, as Didier Deschamps's side had to settle for a goalless draw.

However, Italy's 1-0 win over a Belgium side without Romeo Lavia means second-place France still qualify for the quarter-finals of the Nations League as they are now six points above the Belgians in third, with only one group game remaining.

Nicolas Jackson was in action earlier in the night as he started for Senegal during their 1-0 win over Burkina Faso.

Senegal's qualification for next year's AFCON had already been secured in October but the Lions of Teranaga were still keen to continue new interim coach Pape Thiaw's 100 per cent record and Jackson went close on a few occasions before he was substituted just after the hour mark.

Young Chelsea winger Leo Cardoso was also an unused substitute this afternoon as Portugal Under-19s beat Poland 4-0 in the first of three games at the Pinatar Arena in Spain. They will now face Romania on Saturday 16 November (11am GMT) and Czechia on Tuesday 19 November (3pm GMT).