Saints teammates Adam Lallana and Gastón Ramírez could face a historic head-to-head tonight as England take on Uruguay in a crunch World Cup match.

The countries will meet in São Paulo this evening, with both playing catch-up in Group D, after each lost their opening fixture.

Uruguay were stunned 3-1 by unfancied Costa Rica, while England were edged 2-1 by Italy.

Both Lallana and Ramírez were substitutes in the opening round of matches, with only the Saints captain making a late cameo.

They will each hope to play a bigger part tonight and, if they both get on, it will be the first time that two players from the club have ever faced each other at a World Cup.

Defeat for either side could spell elimination, depending on the result when the group’s other two teams meet tomorrow, while a draw against Uruguay would still give England hope of advancing.

But Lallana says it is “all or nothing” time for Roy Hodgson’s men.

“It’s massive for us,” said the midfielder.

“We have to go all-out, but we know we need the win and we’re confident.

“There were signs the other night that we’re close and the lads know that it’s all or nothing really.

“We’ve got great confidence in the camp and I’m certainly confident that we’re going to get the win.

“We knew from the start that we’d be in a tough group and the Uruguayans are a tough team, but we’re a strong team and we’ve got a great group of players.

“With just a few tweaks we can get this result.”

Those adaptations were worked on during a closed training session at England’s Rio de Janeiro training base on Tuesday.

It appears they will see Wayne Rooney return to his favoured number-ten role, with Danny Welbeck playing on the left and Raheem Sterling wide right.

“Roy’s had a day with the whole squad, working on a few things that he wanted to get across to the group, but, as I said, there were positive signs,” said Lallana.

“We know we need to improve on the result, definitely, and on the performance if we can.

“If our performance is up there like it was the other night, and if we maybe work defensively on a couple of issues, then we’re certainly confident of getting the three points.”

Lallana is, in fact, so confident that he believes England will actually soon dish out a thrashing to one of the world’s best sides.

“People have been talking about our creative play, but I think it’s maybe about that final pass, final cross or final finish,” said the Saints captain.

“You can see that it’s there, but it’s just about getting it over the line.

“One of these days, we’re going to put three or four past a top team.

“I see it in training, I see it in games, we just need that rub of the green and extra bit of confidence and then I think we will get that result.”

If England lose today, they would need Italy to beat Costa Rica in order to keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages