England had been victorious in all seven of their Group K games without conceding a goal, whilst the previous seven meetings against Albania had all been won by the Three Lions.
Epic winning run
The winning run actually stretched to 10 competitive matches for Thomas Tuchel's side, with Spain being the only other European nation to win that many in a row (between October 2014 and June 2016).
Remarkably, England had only faced nine shots on target in the past year, and five of those came against Greece in the Nations League in November 2024.
Under Tuchel, no team had had more than one shot on target, and as a result, Jordan Pickford had made only a handful of saves in the entire qualifying campaign with a perfect 100% record for saves made.
Therefore, the expectation was that this would continue against the Albanians, though Pickford's place was taken by Dean Henderson - the first time a goalkeeper other than Pickford had started a qualifying match in a major tournament for England since Aaron Ramsdale against San Marino in November 2021.
Albania's brilliant home form
Albania hadn't conceded a goal in a home qualifier for eight matches, since a 1-0 defeat to Poland in October 2021, so a backs-against-the-wall performance from the hosts might've seen a potential statemate on the cards.
The start of the game for both sides was lively enough with England making more of the running in the opening exchanges, and 73% possession in the first 10 minutes told its own story.
To Albania's credit, they held firm against the Three Lions, often putting 10 men behind the ball.
With half an hour played and no goals scored, perhaps the most surprising stat was that only Declan Rice had managed a shot at goal, and his three touches in the opposition box were the most of any player; Jude Bellingham was the only other England man to get a touch in the Albanian area.
Chances at a premium
Aside from Harry Kane's 62.5% pass completion, all of his teammates were finding their target at least 80% of the time, but chances remained at a premium.
That would've had a lot to do with Nedim Bajrami, Qazim Laci, Arber Hoxha, Ylber Ramadani, Ardian Ismajli, Elseid Hysaj and Naser Aliji getting involved in at least four one-on-one duels each.
A brilliant save from Thomas Strakosha stopped Jarrod Bowen's daisy cutter from giving the visitors the lead, whilst at the other end, Laci and Hoxha were unlucky not to connect with inviting crosses as an industrious performance from the hosts continued to cause problems for the visitors.
Tuchel won't have been impressed by Eberechi Eze's first-half showing, as the Crystal Palace man wasn't involved at all in an attacking sense, and for all of England's dominance of the ball, Albania still looked dangerous on the break.
English frustration
Essentially, there appeared to be too little intensity from a national team that had already qualified for the World Cup, with players who only had personal pride and a shot at extending their winning run to play for.
Their frustration was heightened by Adam Wharton's booking as half-time approached, the first time an England midfielder received a yellow card on his first England start since Fabian Delph in September 2014.
Bellingham's three tackles before the break were more than anyone else on the pitch had managed, and at least showed the Real Madrid man was prepared to roll up his sleeves and put in a shift.
The difficulties he and his teammates faced in that opening 45 further evidenced how difficult an assignment the game had become, however.
Henderson saves England's blushes
Hoxha's fine long-range effort at the start of the second half saw Henderson having to go full-length to repel the danger.
Just a minute later, a lightning-fast break from the hosts gave Hoxha another chance to get a shot on target, with Henderson again called into action to keep the scores level.
Incredibly, the keeper had made as many saves during the first 51 minutes of the game as Pickford had in the entirety of the previous seven World Cup qualification matches.
Clearly, Albania had more attacking intent, and their energy levels were more than a match for their counterparts.
Kane to the rescue
To give further context to how well the hosts were managing the game, by the hour mark, England captain and talisman Harry Kane hadn't even had a touch in the Albanian box.
Bukayo Saka, a 62nd-minute sub for Eze, had a sight of goal within two minutes of coming on, but Strakosha's fifth save of the night denied the Arsenal man.
The keeper wasn't able to do anything when Saka's corner was flicked into Kane's path, and the Bayern Munich man stabbed home the opening goal with his first touch in the opponent's area.
It gave the striker a sixth goal against this opponent, the most he's scored against one nation in his England career.
Kane's second touch was also a goal, a powerful header home after a sumptuous cross from substitute Marcus Rashford.
That knocked the stuffing out of the hosts' efforts to get back in the game and saw them revert to a more defensive set-up in the final few minutes.
The 2-0 victory meant a flawless campaign for Tuchel and his squad, with 24 points won from 24 available, 22 goals scored, and none conceded. What's more, England have now won 11 competitive matches in a row for the first time in their history.
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