'No red cards' - Tuchel wary of World Cup bans

England manager Thomas Tuchel has told his players to avoid any needless red cards that could mean a World Cup ban.

Cristiano Ronaldo's red card in Portugal's defeat by the Republic of Ireland on Thursday means he will miss the start of their World Cup campaign if they qualify automatically.

England finish their qualifying campaign against Albania on Sunday.

"No red cards please," he said. "It is important. I'm aware of it and we will talk about it."

England secured qualification to next year's tournament with two games to spare and face an Albania side who have guaranteed a place in the play-offs regardless of Sunday's result.

England have a 100% record with seven wins from seven in qualifying and, when asked if he would rather risk losing the game than getting a player sent off, Tuchel said: "It is an extreme example.

"If he goes in the last man example and if we can avoid it, no red card of course.

"I don't want to make the subject too big speaking about it because then you have a cloud above you.

"Normally we are not at risk anyway, but if someone has a choice to make, don't do it."

Along with Spain, England have won all of their games in qualifying without conceding and if the two sides win their final matches of the campaign and keep a clean sheet they will become the first European nations to play at least six qualifiers and win them all without conceding.

The Three Lions have scored 20 goals without reply but Tuchel said he has not spoken to his players about the record they could set and his only focus is to continue building towards the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

"I didn't speak a single word about that," Tuchel said when asked if he was using the possible achievement as motivation going into England's final qualifier.

"We need to get the foundation right to have a chance to have these records.

"Just by thinking about it or by talking about it, nothing will change.

"We need to deliver again. The feeling and the trust is absolutely there because I witnessed this in camp. I trust my players to perform again."

The match against Albania is the last that England will play this year and will mean there is only one more international break before Tuchel names his squad for the World Cup.

And he wants his side to deliver a performance that shows the developments made since he officially took charge in January.

"In general I just hope and I feel the hunger for us to win, and to achieve something is bigger than the fear of losing and the fear of maybe losing a record of clean sheets," Tuchel said.

Captain Harry Kane says England want to try to make the most of set-pieces at the World Cup by taking inspiration from the NFL.

Kane is a big fan of American football and wants the national team to develop an NFL-style playbook for corners, free-kicks and long throws, which have featured prominently in the Premier League this season.

"I think it is massive, to be honest," said Kane. "I know it is not the prettiest part of the game, but we have always been big on set-plays, both defending and attacking.

"I feel like we are getting in some really good routines, attacking-wise. Obviously Dec [Rice] and players like that can put in perfect crosses and are doing it week in, week out for their clubs as well.

"We want to build a book of set-plays where we can go into the tournament where there is not a lot of time to practise it in a tournament.

"You want to also have like an NFL playbook in a way, where you look at the opposition and see if they are zonal or man-mark and we can pick what we want to do, and ultimately the best team at set-plays normally goes on to be the best team in the tournament."