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With six wins from six matches, an unbreached defense and World Cup qualification assured before the final rounds, Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel can argue he has made the right selection choices.

Yet, in the lead-up to Thursday's home game against Serbia, he initiated discussion when he claimed that three of the England's elite footballers - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - cannot play in the same team.

"At the moment, if we keep the structure, they are unable to feature.

"It's possible but not with current tactics, not preserving harmony that we established and not for the structure that incorporates wingers who are like specialists in their positions. We currently utilize with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

From automatic picks to contested places

The Manchester City and Real Madrid stars have been deployed on the flanks for England in the past, but his team selections indicate that the Manchester United forward and Bukayo Saka are his primary selections on the wide areas respectively.

The question remains whether Bellingham, Foden and Kane operate simultaneously?

Former Three Lions boss evidently thought it possible.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane started all of England's seven fixtures at the European Championship in Germany, where the national squad were defeated by Spain in the final.

In the 16 fixtures the stars have performed together, England have triumphed 10 times, tied three matches and lost three, netting 36 goals and conceding 14.

Strategic view: Versatile Foden offers solutions

Tuchel has employed a four-two-three-one setup that alters structure when England attack.

The Aston Villa player has been the main number 10 because of his excellent dribbling, strike quality and ability to attack the box when the striker drops deep.

Tuchel has mentioned preferring natural flank operators. The wide attackers play out wide weekly and can maintain possession effectively, engage in one-on-one situations, and arrive in the box to score.

Behind this front four, Tuchel employs a double pivot consisting of one defensively strict player and one with more license to join the forward movement.

So how could Tuchel use these three players?

Foden and Bellingham would be competing with other creative midfielders for the attacking midfield position, with Kane likely to start up front.

Foden could feature as the main forward, which potentially could permit both Bellingham and Foden to play at Kane's expense.

There is an alternative approach all three could coexist effectively and Tuchel hinted at it this week.

"At Manchester City, he functions as a number eight or 10, so potentially in future we consider him as a central midfielder," he said.

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

That has permitted him to contribute from midfield and could make him an option as the central midfielder, alongside a holding midfielder.

This would then allow Bellingham to play as the attacking midfielder and Kane as the nine.

Irrespective of whether Tuchel opts to structure the side like this at the global tournament, what bodes well is his readiness to exclude star names in the name of balance.