Bellingham lucky not to be sent off, Tuchel admits
England manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted that Jude Bellingham was lucky to avoid a red card during England's 3-0 success over Latvia in European World Cup qualifiers Monday night at Wembley.
England took full control of their qualifying group K with a less-than-convincing win over a Latvia side that was lacking in quality.
Chelsea's Reece James with a stunning free kick gave the home side the lead, his first goal for England. Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze were the other English scorers on the night.
Things could have been different on the night if Bellingham had received his marching orders.
Just two days after claiming Bellingham can be "very emotional" and needed to control his mood on the pitch, the Real Madrid star was fortunate not to be sent off.
After being booked in the first half, Bellingham avoided a second yellow card despite mistiming a very late challenge on Raivis Jurkovskis soon after the interval.
England boss Tuchel responded by sending on Phil Foden to replace the midfielder moments later, admitting he was relieved to do so.
"A bit lucky. We took straight away the decision to not take the risk and take him off," the German told ITV following the match.
"It was not an easy match. We saw a lot of good things and created good chances. We needed a free-kick to unlock it. I'm happy with the attitude, energy and desire. We will get there."
England lead group K with six points. Albania and Latvia both have three points. Serbia who are yet to play and Andorra, both have no points.
The European qualification section has 12 groups with each of the group winners going through direct to the World Cup.
In other matches, Lithuania came back from behind to hold Finland 2-2 while Sam Marino picked up the biggest win of the day, posting a 5-1 success over San Marino.
European qualification results Monday
Lithuania V Finland 2-2
England V Latvia 3-0
Albania V Andorra 3-0
San Marino V Romania 1-5
Bosnia Herzegovina V Cyprus 2-1
Poland V Malta 2-0