Focus on Kane as England face Senegal

The prospect of Harry Kane not scoring in any of England's group games at the World Cup might have left fans fearing the worst but instead there is a growing sense of optimism as Gareth Southgate's side eye Sunday's last-16 clash with Senegal.

Kane, whose 51 goals for his country puts him only two behind record holder Wayne Rooney, has yet to fully hit his straps in Qatar, barely having a shot on target.

England have still managed to score a tournament co-leading nine goals with their other forwards stepping up to the mark, none more so than Manchester United's rejuvenated Marcus Rashford with three goals already.

Southgate will need no reminding of what a wildly unpredictable tournament this has been so far and England's focus will have to be total at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday, even if history is on their side.

England have faced African opposition seven times at the World Cup without losing, while the African champions – who arrived in Qatar without their injured talisman Sadio Mane -- have lost eight of their nine World Cup knockout round games against European sides, although the one success came in 2002 when a Senegal side captained by Cisse beat Sweden to reach the quarter-finals.

While England will be expected to reach the quarter-finals, and face a possible clash with France, Southgate knows that any World Cup journey has bumps in the road and the 'Lions of Teranga' are a powerful side packed with experience and devoted to coach Aliou Cisse.

"Senegal will be tough," he said. "They're very well organised, they've got a lot of good individual players playing in big European leagues and their expectations now will rise."