Slovakia vs England - Sam Allardyce ready to make his bow

Sam Allardyce knows that nerves will hit him as he prepares to lead England into battle for the first time, but is relying on his players to settle him in Slovakia.

Allardyce will fulfil a life's ambition by managing the Three Lions in Sunday's World Cup qualifier at Trnava's City Arena and he admits he may be affected by a touch of anxiety as he makes his final preparations.

But at 61 years old and with 25 years of touchline experience in the bank he expects to be ready for action as soon as the whistle blows and the team take over.

"I think there'll be nerves, yeah," he said on the eve of the biggest match of his career.

"I think in every new job you get you're nervous. But you're hoping the players will do the talking for you, that when they walk over that white line they'll deliver what we all want and that's the victory.

"I'll be very nervous in the early part, the build-up, but once the game starts that leaves me and the focus on the match comes in. I don't hear the crowd around me, I just see how team is doing and what I need to communicate."

Allardyce removed some of the speculation and intrigue around his first game in charge by naming his starting XI a full 48 hours early.

There were no major shocks, with every one of the team part of Roy Hodgson's unsuccessful Euro 2016 squad and eight of the side that crashed out to Iceland retained.

Dele Alli was perhaps most unfortunate to miss the cut, a victim of captain Wayne Rooney's selection in his preferred number 10 role.

Allardyce did not name names but did suggest he had wrestled with the composition.

"There was deliberation on everybody," he said.

"That's the exciting thing for me, the quality of players this week, the energy of the players, the camaraderie. It's been very good for me to see.

"So the selection process was quite a difficult one."

Manchester City's John Stones is an eye-catching selection at the heart of defence, where he replaces Chris Smalling.

He has long been seen as a future mainstay of the national side but did not manage a minute in France and is set for only his second competitive start.

There is much excitement about the B#47.5million man's ability to bring the ball from defence in the style of Rio Ferdinand but, while Allardyce shares in that, the priority remains keeping the back door shut.

"Nobody is going to stop John Stones playing from the back...but every centre-half is judged on his defending first and foremost. If anybody tells you different they're not telling the truth," he said.

"John plays as a defender and he can use his ability when we're in possession. He's got a dual role and he can be creative when we've got ball.

"If he can come out from the back and make a killer pass or help with an assist we will cover that by other players filling in."

Slovakia boss Jan Kozak has backed Allardyce to make a success of managing England.

He said: "I think he is the right man for this job. The clubs he has managed are disciplined and well led and although managing the national team is different he has enough experience to meet this challenge."

Kozak left experienced quartet Jan Mucha, Miroslav Stoch, Vladimir Weiss and Stanislav Sestak out of his squad for the match and has now been hit by two further withdrawals.

AC Milan midfielder Juraj Kucka has not been able to take part in full training and will not feature, while uncapped defender Jakub Holubek is sidelined with an ankle injury.