England will be in pole position to qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals with victory over Japan in their Pool D match in Nice on Sunday.

England are without banned duo Owen Farrell and Tom Curry but Billy Vunipola returns from his suspension.

Japan, who are top of Pool D after a 42-12 win over Chile, could blow the pool wide open if they win.

Samoa lead the standings after their bonus-point victory over Chile, with Japan second and England in third.

The Brave Blossoms reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 2019 on home soil, beating Ireland and Scotland en route to topping their group.

However, defeats by Samoa, Fiji and Italy in the lead-up to this World Cup have seen their world ranking slip to 14th.

England have won all three previous Tests against Japan and beat them 52-13 at Twickenham in November.

Curry became the third England player to be sent off in their past four matches when he was dismissed for a head-on-head tackle against Argentina.

England produced a resilient performance to win that game but did so without scoring a try, something they will be looking to rectify on Sunday.

England and Japan team news

Lewis Ludlam has been rewarded for his energetic cameo in England's win over Argentina with a starting spot at number eight.

The 27-year-old, who made 11 tackles after coming on in the 66th minute against the Pumas, replaces Curry, who was sent off for a high tackle in the third minute in Marseille.

Sinckler and Joe Marler come into the front row in the other two changes to Steve Borthwick's starting line-up.

Ellis Genge drops to the bench, while Dan Cole is out of the squad entirely.

Vunipola, the sole specialist number eight in England's squad, is also on the bench after serving a two-match ban following his red card for a high hit on Andrew Porter in the defeat by Ireland last month.

Japan head coach Jamie Joseph has brought in three veterans of their 2019 campaign - hooker Shota Horie, flanker Pieter Labuschagne and captain and number eight Kazuki Himeno - with centre Tomoki Osada the other change to the starting line-up.

View from England's camp

England head coach Borthwick on the selection of Ludlam ahead of Vunipola: "With the nature of this game and the challenge Japan pose, I thought Lewis was the right person to start. He carries, he runs hard and covers a lot of ground in defence, which I don't think people often see.

"What he does often goes under the radar. He's that type of player and we value that here. Lewis is a great energy giver. He is a great driver of this squad and very generous in helping other team-mates improve. You always need those type of players in your team."

Borthwick on the return of Sinckler: "He probably could have played against Argentina but he's now absolutely 100% this week.

"I saw a great advancement in the consistency of his game in the Six Nations. What I see of him now is physically a guy who is in great shape.

"He's exceptionally strong and he's moving really well. I sense the hunger in him and a desire in him to want to do exceptionally well for England in this World Cup."

View from Japan's camp

Japan head coach Jamie Joseph on England: "We are expecting a lot of pressure. Kicking is a big part of their game and we have got to be good enough to catch those balls under extreme pressure.

"It's going to be one of the big parts of the game that we have got to improve on.

"England will be a handful in the way they play the game. They play differently to everyone else at the World Cup and they control the game well."

England v Japan line-ups

England: Steward; May, Marchant, Tuilagi, Daly; Ford, Mitchell; Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Chessum, Lawes (capt), Earl, Ludlam.

Replacements: Dan, Genge, Stuart, Martin, Vunipola, Youngs, Smith, Lawrence.

Japan: Masirewa; Matsushima, Osada, Nakamura, Naikabula; Matsuda, Nagare; Inagaki, Horie, Gu, Cornelsen, Fakatava, Leitch, Labuschagne, Himeno (capt)

Replacements: Sakate, Millar, Ai Valu, Dearns, Shimokawa, Saito, Riley, Lemeki.

Match officials

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

Touch judges: Nic Berry (South Africa), Andrea Piardi (Italy)

TMO: Joy Neville (Ireland)

Pool D standings

Match facts

England v Japan head-to-head

England

Japan

England's Pool D fixtures

Saturday, 9 September: England 27-10 Argentina

Sunday, 17 September: England v Japan (Stade de Nice), 20:00

Saturday, 23 September: England v Chile (Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille), 16:45

Saturday 7 October: England v Samoa (Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille), 16:45