Thomas Tuchel is not afraid to make “brave decisions” and says the “competition is on” after absent England stars watched some inexperienced talents stake their claim for a World Cup spot.

The back-to-back European Championship runners-up are within touching distance of qualification for next summer’s finals having followed Saturday’s 2-0 win over Andorra with the 5-0 shellacking of Serbia.

Only four of Tuchel’s starting line-up in Belgrade had more than 20 caps heading into Tuesday’s crunch qualifier, yet all displayed impressive confidence, maturity and quality as England ran amok.

Asked if England’s less experienced players had staked their claim for the shirt, Tuchel said: “Yes, for sure. The competition is on.

“If you’re in camp, be on your best behaviour. If you’re in camp, be on your best shape, be in your best form and you make the best of it. It’s a privilege to be in camp. And then fight for your place.

“If you come from the bench, be the best version from the bench. If you can help everyone to be better and to grow and this is what we did.

“They did excellent. Now they go back to their clubs. Next nomination we need to see what’s coming.”

It was the perfect end to “an excellent camp” in which Tuchel used a smaller squad to make it more competitive, meaning there were some big-name omissions on top of enforced absentees.

Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, John Stones and Adam Wharton missed out through injury, but the England boss chose against selecting Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish.

“I am always brave, you know that,” Tuchel said when asked of his approach. “But we don’t talk now about hypothetical names that can be maybe left out.

“Let’s see who’s fit and who is not and who is available.

“Like I said, I think we took some brave decisions already. We nominated a squad of only 21 to keep the competition going and the players know that.”

There are now only three camps until Tuchel makes his World Cup selection, with the side reconvening in October for a friendly at home to Wales and qualifier in Latvia.

Elliot Anderson shone brightest across this doubleheader, with the Nottingham Forest midfielder named player of the match on his debut against Andorra and again in Serbia. Tottenham’s Djed Spence made his debut off the bench in Belgrade.

“The teamwork, the effort we put in to help each other out, the intensity – we never stopped running,” Tuchel added at the Rajko Mitic Stadium. “Not everything was perfect, but we never stopped running.

“There was no attitude after a mistake, there was no frustration, there was no waving, there was no eyeballing, there was no bad words. It was just a team ready to work and put 90 minutes effort in.

“We didn’t concede a shot on target, we didn’t allow any big chances, so we need to do the little things right.

“I felt this through the week that the team was ready and I am just very, very happy that they proved it.”