Goals from Chris Willock, Will Patching and Jay DaSilva secured their victory, as well as top spot in Group Four, three points ahead of their second-placed opponents.
Reece Oxford returned to the Young Lions defence to wear the captain’s armband having served his one-match suspension for his red card against Cyprus, replacing Manchester City’s Cameron Humphreys who missed out after picking up two cautions in the previous matches.
England 3-1 France
European U17 Championship
First Round Qualifier
Thursday 30 October
Paphiakos Stadium, Paphos
Danny Collinge retained his place to partner Oxford as Peacock otherwise started with the same team that began the opening win over Cyprus in a 4-2-3-1 formation, spearheaded by Layton Ndukwu.
Their opponents lined up in similar fashion, with former World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane’s son Luca guarding their net, and three-goal top scorer Odsonne Edouard up top.
It was a cagey opening as both sides sounded each other out without threatening, and the only chance fell to Chris Willock. The Arsenal youngster latched on to a stray pass on half-way and drove goalwards, but his 25-yard strike was easily collected by Zidane.
Soon after it took a brave bit of defending from Tom Davies to deny Bilal Boutobba a sight of goal on 20 minutes.
Edouard embarked on a powerful run down the right and squared for Boutobba 10 yards out, but the Everton youngster leapt into his path to produce a brave block to deny him.
Moments later France should have taken the lead as a corner whipped from the right found Maxime Pelican completely free, but he could only manage to head the ball into the ground and send it over the crossbar.
It appeared France were taking control, but England had other ideas as they hit back to break the deadlock on the half-hour mark.
After Ndukwu had won a corner out on the left, Will Patching’s quick kick found Willock at the near post. He controlled the ball and spun to strike it across goal to the far post, but his effort took a slight deflection off a defender, which wrong-footed the keeper and finished in the net.
Nine minutes later things got even better for the Young Lions as they doubled their advantage in spectacular fashion. Edwards produced a bit of magic as he set off on a mazy run, skipping past three men before he was hauled down 25 yards out.
The Tottenham Hotspur youngster dusted himself off as he lined up the free-kick, but Patching had other ideas as he curled an unstoppable effort inside the bottom right corner to give England a two-goal lead at the break.
Seconds after the restart Edwards nearly made it three, latching on to a Ndukwu pass and rounding the keeper, but his effort went the wrong side of the post and into the side-netting.
Jay DaSilva scored a fabulous solo goal for England's third
Back came France, and captain Timothe Cognat tried his luck from 25 yards, sending the ball narrowly wide of Paul Woolston’s left hand post before Yann Karamoh sent an effort over the bar shortly after.
The Young Lions seemed content to sit back and soak up the pressure, and this worked well as some resolute defending kept their opponents at bay.
But with 62 minutes on the clock France clawed themselves back into the contest – half-time substitute Yann Karamoh curling home from 20 yards past an outstretched Woolston to make it 2-1.
Peacock responded by making a double change, Hayden Coulson going down the left instead of Willock and Herbie Kane coming in to shore up the midfield in place of Edwards. And within seconds England were celebrating again.
Cheslea left-back Jay DaSilva won the ball 35 yards from goal, and he powered through the French defence like a steam train. He found himself one-on-one with the keeper and calmly slotted it low into the bottom left corner to seal a two-goal winning margin.
The draw for the Elite Round qualifiers will take place in the opening week of December.
England (4-2-3-1): 1 Paul Woolston (Newcastle United); 2 James Yates (Everton), 5 Reece Oxford (West Ham) (C), 15 Danny Collinge (VFB Stuttgart), 3 Jay DaSilva (Chelsea); 4 Tom Davies (Everton), 14 Will Patching (Manchester City); 7 Nathan Holland (Everton), 10 Marcus Edwards (Tottenham Hotspur), 11 Chris Willock (Arsenal); 16 Layton Ndukwu (Leicester City)
Subs: 12 Hayden Coulson (Middlesbrough) for Willock (66), 18 Herbie Kane (Liverpool) for Edwards (66), 9 Lukas Nmecha (Manchester City) for patching (76)
Subs not used: 13 Aston Oxborough (Norwich City), 17 Charlie Wakefield (Chelsea)
Goals: Willock 30, Patching 39, DaSilva 69
Bookings: Yates 43
Head coach: John Peacock
France (4-2-3-1): 1 Luca Zidane; 2 Alec Georgen, 4 Bradlay Danger, 6 Dayotchanculle Upamecano, 3 Moamdou Doucoure; 11 Jean Ruiz, 8 Jean-Victor Makengo; 7 Bilal Boutobba, 10 Timothe Cognat (C), 14 Maxime Pelican; 18 Odsonne Edouard
Subs: 17 Yann Karamoh for Boutobba (40), 9 Nanitamo Ikone for Edouard (55), 5 Maxime Bernauer for Upamecano (75)
Subs not used: 16 Anthony Maisonnial, 12 Kelvin Amian Adou, 13 Thomas Alpou Boulaque, 15 Mathias Fischer
Goal: Karamoh 62
Bookings: Ruiz 77, Makengo 79
Head coach: Jean-Claude Giuntini
Watch highlights of the game in Paphos
