England Should Be Wary of Belgium's Strength in Depth at Russia World Cup 2018

England fans rejoiced on Friday when they were drawn with Panama, Tunisia and Belgium in Russia World Cup  2018 Group G.

However, they shouldn't get too comfortable, as Belgium look to take advantage of their golden generation - an opportunity The Three Lions know all about missing out on.

Belgium are a bit of an unpredictable commodity on the national scene, we know how good the individual players can be for their respective domestic clubs, but they haven't seemed to gel for the national side.

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This could be largely down to poor management - with former manager Marc Wilmots hanging onto a 4-3-3 formation which exposed their problem position - full-back.

Now reverting to a 3-4-2-1 under the defensively astute Roberto Martinez to relieve the burden of defensive duties on their wing backs, The Red Devils began to prove their quality in qualifying.

They topped their group and remained unbeaten with 28 points from 30 games, scoring 43 goals in the process.

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Filtering through their best starting eleven, Thomas Meunier has developed into one of the most underrated attacking full-backs on the continent, battling for a place in PSG's first team  alongside Dani Alves. 

On the other flank, Jordan Lukaku may not be a regular started for Lazio yet, but he has proved his worth in their Europa League campaign.

Although both seem to prefer to attack than defend, positioned either side of a midfield four allows a strong back three of Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen to protect their brick wall of a goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Kevin De Bruyne has been the best player in the Premier League so far this season, and his creativity partnered up with the robust Radja Nainggolan offers everything you could possibly wish for in centre midfield.

Dries Mertens may be one of the most in-form strikers on the planet right now, but he may be forced to play as a winger to accommodate this formation - something he will be used to from his early years at Napoli and playing on the left side for PSV.

Alongside the magnificent Eden Hazard on the opposite flank, they will offer plenty of service to Belgium's all time top scorer Romelu Lukaku - and under finishing coach Thierry Henry, many struggle to think of a more deadly front three that will feature in Russia this summer.

This first eleven leaves the likes of Mousa Dembele, Axel Witsel, Michy Batshuayi, Nacer Chadli, Yannick Carrasco, Christian Benteke and Marouane Fellaini all on the bench - with youngsters Youri Tielemans and Leander Dendoncker coming through the ranks too.

Although the same was said for Euro 2016, if this team can emulate the togetherness they showed in qualifying on the big stage, they could be dark horses for the Jules Rimet trophy.