England recovered from the embarrassing Uefa Nations League loss to Greece at Wembley but were still not totally convincing as they finally overcame Finland in Helsinki.
Interim manager Lee Carsley made six changes from the debacle against Greece, with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford replaced by Dean Henderson, but England failed to sparkle until the side ranked 64th in the world and without a point ran out of steam late on.
The recalled Jack Grealish settled early England nerves with a cool finish from Angel Gomes’ excellent pass in the 18th minute, and Finland missed chances to put Carsley and his side under further pressure before Trent Alexander-Arnold’s brilliant late free-kick settled the game.
Declan Rice scored from close range with six minutes left to give the scoreline a more satisfactory appearance for Carsley and England.
Finland striker Fredrik Jensen was their biggest culprit as they tried to inflict more misery on England, missing good first-half opportunities before somehow turning an effort over the top from only six yards after the break.
Alexander-Arnold, operating at left-back in another Carsley break from convention, provided a rare moment of quality in a game desperately lacking the commodity, curling a magnificent 25-yard free-kick high past Finland keeper Lukas Hradecky after 74 minutes.
Finland, by then, were out on their feet and Rice stole in for an easy finish three minutes from time.
The Finns at least delighted the packed 32,000 crowd and got the reward their gallant efforts deserved when Arttu Hoskonen scored as England failed to deal with a corner.
