Saka struck in the first half at Wembley before his Arsenal team-mate Eze netted in the closing stages to ensure England, who had already qualified for the World Cup, made it seven successive Group K victories without conceding a goal.
After scoring 13 times in their previous three matches, this was a more prosaic England display, with Thomas Tuchel’s decision to leave Bellingham out of his starting line-up capturing most of the attention.
Tuchel opted to select Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers instead of Bellingham before sending on the Real Madrid star with 26 minutes left.
Bellingham had missed England’s previous four matches, with a shoulder injury sidelining him in September before Tuchel left him out in October.
Rogers excelled in the number 10 role while deputising for Bellingham during England’s wins over Wales and Latvia in October.
And Tuchel this week warned Bellingham that he would have to fight for his place in the starting line-up at the World Cup.
There have been reports that Bellingham has sometimes been a polarising figure among the England squad and Tuchel was forced to apologise to the 22-year-old earlier this season after revealing his mother found the fiery star’s on-pitch behaviour “repulsive”.
After England travel to Albania for their last qualifier on Sunday, Tuchel has only two friendlies remaining in March before he has to name his World Cup squad.
The German’s handling of Bellingham will likely be the main topic from now until the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.
“Morgan deserved to stay on the pitch because he had three fantastic performances with him, and second of all we didn’t know if our plan was right with the high press,” Tuchel said. “It would be unfair for Jude to try figure everything out because we changed our way of pressing in the last two camps.
“Once we see the formation we can give clear instructions to Phil and Jude and bring them from the bench,” he added. “The game got a little too open. It is good if everything is not as easy, so we had to wait very long until the decisive goal.”
England’s 5-0 win in Serbia in September was the first sign that Tuchel was starting to stamp his mark on the team after a slow start to his reign. (AFP)
