England will be feared at the Euros next summer despite their struggles against Malta and North Macedonia, says striker Ollie Watkins.
Gareth Southgate’s side rounded off their Euro 2024 qualification campaign with an uninspiring 1-1 draw here in Skopje on Monday night, having also laboured to a drab 2-0 win over Malta at Wembley on Friday. But the result ensured England will be among the top seeds when the draw for the Euros takes place on December 2.
They will be among the favourites in Germany next summer, and Watkins insists rival nations will be “scared” of them.
“I think we are in really good shape,” said Aston Villa striker Watkins, who was handed a rare start in place of Harry Kane against Macedonia but endured a frustrating night.
“[We are still] unbeaten, top of the group, so there is no negative there — only positives. Even though we didn’t win, we still played well and created a lot of chances. The penny just didn’t drop for us.”
Asked how the rest of Europe’s elite sides will perceive England, Watkins said: “Scared to play us. We are one of the best teams in the world. We have world-class players, so we definitely have that scare factor for teams.”
England fell behind to a goal from Enis Bardhi after the award of a controversial penalty but an own-goal from Jani Atanasov saved England from defeat against a team ranked 66th in the world. North Macedonia are the lowest-ranked side England have failed to beat in a qualifier since a 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in 2005.
“We didn’t lose, so that is a bonus”, Watkins added. “Yes, we should come away with a win, but we played well. It was a very difficult game. I was very isolated.
"Whenever we crossed it, I had two defenders on me. I knew it was going to be difficult [to play against] a back five. But you are going to get these games, and it is something to learn from.”
Despite failing to win in Skopje, England finish the year unbeaten, with eight wins and two draws since their World Cup quarter-final defeat by France.
England manager Gareth Southgate also felt England had delivered a positive display on Monday night, saying: “I thought the performance was good. The mentality was excellent.
"We played well and totally controlled the game. We wanted to look at a few different things as well, so we’ve managed to learn from the game as well as [get] the result.”
