Thomas Tuchel Relieved As 'Lucky' Jude Bellingham Avoids Red Card In Laboured England Win

Thomas Tuchel admitted Jude Bellingham was "lucky" to escape a red card as England "struggled" to secure a 3-0 win against minnows Latvia on Monday. 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 in the World Cup qualifier at Wembley. After being booked in the first half, Bellingham avoided a second yellow yard despite crunching into a crude challenge on Raivis Jurkovskis soon after the interval. England boss Tuchel responded by sending on Phil Foden to replace the midfielder moments later to ensure he was not given his marching orders.

"A bit lucky. We took straight away the decision to not take the risk and take him off," Tuchel said.

Leading through Reece James's superb first half free-kick, England were struggling to kill off stubborn Latvia when Bellingham was substituted.

His lack of discipline could have hampered Tuchel's bid for a second successive win to start his reign.

Harry Kane netted moments after Bellingham's departure before Eberechi Eze wrapped up the points on the road to next year's World Cup.

Facing an unheralded Latvia team 136 places below them in FIFA's world rankings, Tuchel acknowledged England were far from convincing again after a lacklustre 2-0 win against Albania in his debut on Friday.

"It was not an easy match. We saw a lot of good things, created good chances. We needed a free-kick to unlock it. I'm happy with the attitude, energy and desire. We will get there," the German said.

"The second half we started to slow the game down and made little movement, which makes no sense. But the second goal was better as we showed acceleration from one of our sixes.

"We encourage everyone