England avenged their Greek oddity at Wembley by seizing control of automatic promotion hopes from Group B2 in the Nations League with a 3-0 victory in Athens capped by a superb Curtis Jones back-heeled finish.

Provided Lee Carsley ends his spell as interim boss with a victory of any kind against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, new manager Thomas Tuchel will avoid beginning his reign next March with a play-off, but instead the fresh slate of a set of World Cup Qualifiers.

The Three Lions, who were beaten at home by Greece last month, got off to the perfect start as Ollie Watkins justified his selection with a close-range finish after excellent play involving Noni Madueke and Jude Bellingham down the right flank (7).

Greece had lost all four previous home games against England but knew they would seal automatic promotion to the Nations League top tier if they avoided defeat. Fotis Ioannidis was presented with their best chance but the excellent Jordan Pickford tipped his shot around the post.

England absorbed a period of sustained pressure to find the goals they needed to take control of the group as Bellingham's marauding run and shot struck the post before ricocheting over the line via the back of the hapless goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

It moved England above Greece by virtue of a superior head-to-head - but Jones' audacious flick from substitute Morgan Gibbs-White's cross put the seal on a hugely impressive victory. Provided England match - or better - Greece's result in the final round of fixtures, they will be promoted to League A.

Carsley said: "We spoke yesterday about matching their energy, matching their enthusiasm, their motivation. We knew it was going to be a difficult game, I think we saw that at Wembley. So it was important that we were as creative as we could be.

"I thought the most pleasing thing about tonight was the amount of control that we played with. The shape of the team was really good, we had a lot of possession, created a lot of chances."