Today included, these two teams both have just two games remaining before the World Cup gets underway, and with the final deadline for squads arriving on Monday, this is the last match practice they will have to tweak anything before their 23-man roster is officially unchangeable.

This is a hugely important game for both managers, then, as well as for each player selected, so let's waste no time in checking out the team news...

Well, we'll start with England and perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding Southgate's selection for that first World Cup game is over who will be in goal. Jordan Pickford is considered the favourite, and the Everton man gets the nod today in what could be a strong hint that he is above Butland and Pope in the pecking order.

It looks like a starting XI which may not be too dissimilar to the one England do start with in their opening match in Russia, so that is a very good sign for Pickford.

Alongside Walker is his Manchester City teammate John Stones, while Gary Cahill completes that three-man defence. Maguire is left of the bench for today's match, while Phil Jones is absent having left the camp to attend the birth of his child.

Eric Dier will sit slightly deeper in midfield to allow the likes of Lingard and Dele Alli to push forward with less defensive responsibility on their shoulders. We expected Lingard to start - perhaps in place of Alli - but Southgate insisted that they could play together and he has put that into practice here.

Sterling is expected to play up front alongside Harry Kane, and he will be desperate to improve his international scoring ratio after a fine season at club level. The winger scored 23 goals across all competitions for City - including 18 in the Premier League - but he has just two goals in 37 games for England.

Kane is one of only two players - alongside Danny Welbeck - to have scored 10 or more goals for England from the current squad, but there is no doubting that he is one of the world's best strikers, and he will likely be key to any English success in Russia.

Once a long-serving Chelsea midfielder, Mikel won the FA Cup three times during his Blues career and is the most capped player in Nigeria's squad with 83 international appearances to his name.

Moses won the FA Cup at this ground just two weeks ago and will be hoping for similar success again, while Chelsea also have representatives on the bench with Ola Aina and Kenneth Omeruo named, although both spent last season on loan away from Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal's Alex Iwobi is one of only three of those starting, with Leicester duo Iheanacho and Ndidi among those on the bench, but England's players will also know former Watford striker Odion Ighalo well.

Of course, the best way to go into a tournament is with a few wins under your belt too, and this is one of only two World Cup warm-up friendlies England will be playing. The second comes at Elland Road on Thursday, when they take on a Costa Rica team that finished above them at the 2014 World Cup.

A group-stage exit in 2014 and loss to Iceland at Euro 2016 has no doubt contributed to that, but Southgate has also named a youthful squad which very much seems to be looking towards the future. Southgate is trying to usher in a new era for England, and hopefully that will stand the Three Lions in better stead ahead of future tournaments - although this one in Russia may just come too soon.

Of course, anything can happen at a World Cup, and England certainly cannot afford to look past each game. Tunisia - who are first up for Southgate - have had some good warm-up results, while Panama are sure to be full of passion and energy in what is their first ever appearance on the biggest stage in football.

England are still very much a work in progress, though, and there are plenty of questions which still need answering before they can even start thinking about the knockout rounds.

England have won five of their eight matches since then, although the lack of excitement in many of those games means that many are yet to be convinced about their credentials. England's defence is fine - they have conceded just one goal in their last six outings - but going forward they don't seem to be causing anywhere near enough problems.

Aside from the concerns over England's style, they also needed a managerial change early into the qualifying campaign when Sam Allardyce was forced to step down after just one game due to a media sting. Southgate has now been in charge for 16 games, of which he has won half, drawn six and lost two - against Germany and France.

England's only friendly victory in the past two years was a 1-0 triumph in the Netherlands in March, although it should also be noted that they are unbeaten in their last four non-competitive fixtures.

Nigeria will also be at this summer's World Cup, and they did it in style too, like England going through their qualifying campaign unbeaten. They are not here just to make up the numbers tonight - and the same will apply in Russia.

Curiously, Nigeria and Argentina know each other remarkably well on the World Cup stage, with the Super Eagles having been drawn in the same group as La Albiceleste in five of the six World Cups they have qualified for.

After tonight's match, Rohr's side will then take on Czech Republic in Austria on Wednesday to finalise their preparations, before heading out to Russia and getting their campaign underway in two weeks' time.

Their best-ever showing has been reaching the last 16 on three separate occasions - in 1994, 1998 and 2014 - while they will eliminated in the group stages in 2002 and 2010.

The 11-game unbeaten run actually ended in the final of the Africa Nations Championship when they were soundly beaten by Morocco, since when they have won one, drawn one and lost two of their matches. Defeat or a draw today would leave them winless in three games for the first time since March 2016.

However, Rohr's side clinched qualification quite comfortably in the end, being one of only two African nations to go through the campaign unbeaten and establishing themselves as the only team from the continent to have reached both the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.

The solitary defeat in that time came at the hands of Serbia, and the Super Eagles come into this match without a win in their most recent two friendlies, but that recent run also includes impressive wins over Argentina and Poland, so they can be a very dangerous team on their day.

England's recent friendlies have not exactly been hugely exciting affairs, and I don't expect that to suddenly change tonight. The best hope is that a number of players really go for it in an effort to prove to their managers that they deserve a starting role at the World Cup, but it is likely to be a hard-fought game either way. I will go for a narrow home win!

SPORTS MOLE SAYS: England 1-0 Nigeria

England won on that occasion, with David Platt scoring the only goal of the game for Terry Venables's side, and that remains the only goal that has ever been scored in matches between these two sides.

The England team that day included the likes of Campbell, Ferdinand, Cole, Beckham, Scholes and Owen, whereas Nigeria had Jay-Jay Okocha and Joseph Yobo amongst their ranks.

Super Eagles boss Gernot Rohr is one of the most experienced coaches in Africa, with the former Bordeaux player and manager having spent time in charge of Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso in addition to Nigeria since 2010.

ENGLAND STARTING XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Cahill; Trippier, Dier, Lingard, Alli, Young; Kane, Sterling

NIGERIA STARTING XI: Uzoho; Shehu, Troost-Ekong, Balogun, Idowu; Mikel, Obi, Onazi; Moses, Ighalo, Iwobi

The corner - won from the free kick which shouldn't have been given - is delivered into the middle and Cahill loses his marker before putting a brilliant header right into the top corner.

It is poor from Nigeria as they give the ball away just inside their own half, allowing Dier to launch a counter-attack. He gives it to his Spurs teammate Kane, who exchanges passes with Sterling before drilling his finish in from the edge of the box. The keeper should be saving it, but it just beat him for pace.

The hosts have completely dominated from the first whistle and could well be four or five ahead at the interval, but for some wayward finishing. Hopefully we will see more of the same in the second half!

Trippier himself had won the corner with a free kick which needed to be tipped past the post, and Cahill met the corner with an unstoppable header which left both the goalkeeper and the man on the line no chance.

Dier nicked possession in midfield before giving it to Kane, who exchanged passes with Sterling before drilling a powerful effort through the keeper.

It will be interesting to see whether Southgate changes too much in this second half as England have played well so far and he will want that to continue, although he doesn't have long left to look at other options before the World Cup.

Iwobi dinks a lovely ball through for Ighalo, who wraps his foot around the ball and fires his effort against the post with Pickford beaten. There is an element of luck in that the ball bounces back straight out to Iwobi, who has followed in and sweeps home the rebound.

The hosts were dominant in the first half and could have gone into the break with plenty more than their two-goal advantage - given to them by Cahill and Kane. However, an Alex Iwobi goal within two minutes of the restart set the tone for a vastly-improved Nigeria display in the second half, and in the end it was anything but plain sailing for England.

Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for today's match as England beat Nigeria in their penultimate match before this summer's World Cup. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.

From me, though, it is goodbye for now!