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Having secured six victories from six matches, no goals conceded and a World Cup spot secured with two group games to spare, England manager Thomas Tuchel can argue he has made the right selection choices.

Yet, in the lead-up to Thursday's Wembley encounter against Serbia, he raised questions when he stated that three of the England's elite footballers - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - are unable to feature in the equivalent formation.

"At the moment, if we stick with the system, they are unable to feature.

"They might but not in the structure, not maintaining equilibrium that we developed and not in this formation that also includes wingers who are like specialists in their positions. We play at the moment with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

From guaranteed positions to competitive roles

Foden and Bellingham have been used in wide positions for England in the past, but his team selections indicate that Marcus Rashford and Arsenal's winger are his first choices on the wide areas respectively.

So can Bellingham, Foden and Kane play together?

The previous England manager apparently believed they could.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane featured in every England's seven matches at Euro 2024 in Germany, where Southgate's side were defeated by Spain in the final.

In the 16 matches the trio have played simultaneously, England have secured 10 victories, tied three matches and lost three, scoring 36 times and allowing 14 goals.

Analysis: Foden's versatility gives Tuchel options

Tuchel has utilized a 4-2-3-1 formation that alters structure when England attack.

The Aston Villa player has been the key creative force because of his excellent dribbling, ball-striking and ability to attack the box when the forward retreats.

Tuchel has spoken about preferring specialist wingers. The Arsenal and Newcastle stars play out wide weekly and can maintain possession effectively, engage in one-on-one situations, and enter the area to finish.

Behind this front four, Tuchel utilizes two central midfielders consisting of a holding midfielder and a partner with attacking liberty to join the forward movement.

So how could Tuchel use these three players?

Foden and Bellingham would be competing with Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze for the number 10 role, with Kane likely to start up front.

Foden could play as the main forward, which in theory could allow both Bellingham and Foden to play at Kane's expense.

There is a potential solution all three could play in this system and Tuchel alluded to it this week.

"At Manchester City, he functions as a box-to-box or creative role, so potentially in future we consider him as a number eight," he said.

Foden has been deployed in a versatile central position this season.

That has allowed him to take responsibility deeper and could make him an option as the number eight, next to a more defensive number six.

This would then enable Bellingham to operate as the attacking midfielder and Kane as the center forward.

Irrespective of whether Tuchel chooses to configure the team like this at the international competition, what seems encouraging is his preparedness to omit established stars in the name of balance.