Kyle Walker says England need a ‘miracle’ to win World Cup in Russia

Kyle Walker admits England need a “miracle” to win the World Cup in Russia because the players lack experience on the world stage.

The 27-year-old has been a key component of Manchester City’s Premier League title-winning season following his summer arrival from Tottenham and helped Gareth Southgate’s men earn automatic qualification from Group F, after an unbeaten campaign.

Walker was part of the disappointing exit to Iceland at Euro 2016 in France and says their inexperience on the world stage means both players and managers need to be realistic about their chances.

“I hope we can go as far as we can go, but we need to be realistic,” Walker told TalkSPORT.

“To win the World Cup is going to be a miracle, but we have got the players to do it. A lot of us play in probably the best league in the world.

“We’ve got the players to do it, but have we got the experience going further along in competitions? No, we haven’t. Not in recent years.

“We need to be realistic. There are a lot of good teams out there and our record in tournaments has not been fantastic.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations inside the camp – England haven’t won a knockout game for God knows how many years, so for us to go there and win a knockout game, that would be a step in the right direction.”

(c) Sky News 2018: Kyle Walker says England need a ‘miracle’ to win World Cup in Russia