England manager Gareth Southgate explains why he started Roma striker Tammy Abraham and Milan defender Fikayo Tomori against Italy in the Nations League.
The Azzurri are top of their Nations League group after a 1-1 draw with Germany and 2-1 win over Hungary, whereas the Three Lions scraped only a last-gasp draw away to Germany.
Italy won the EURO 2020 Final on penalties at Wembley Stadium and the violent scenes around that game are why England must play this match behind closed doors, although circa 2,000 children are allowed in with accompanying adults.
Jack Grealish is in the starting line-up after his impressive substitute performance against Germany.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Jack’s role with us, but he’s been available for 11 games this year and played all of them,” Southgate told Channel 4.
“We know he has a great impact when he starts and a great impact when he comes into the games, so we want to see all those qualities everybody knows that he brings.”
Milan defender Tomori gets his first England start, having recovered from a minor injury, so is the fact he plays in Serie A one of the reasons he was chosen to play this particular game?
“Fitness-wise, he’s come through training with no problems. Fikayo is a player we wanted to look at anyway, the fact he knows the opposition is probably a comfort to him going into his first start.
“He’s had a really good season and is full of confidence with what’s happened to him at Milan this year.”
Abraham had his debut season in Serie A and scored 27 competitive goals for Roma, which also helped them win the Conference League under Jose Mourinho. Is this an audition for Abraham to be the back-up to Harry Kane?
“There are a few players in the team with that position at stake. Tammy’s goal-scoring position is the best in the whole squad this season. It’s a slightly different league, but not easy to score goals in that division.
“We know if we get the ball to him between the posts, he’ll be in the right place and he will finish. It’s interesting to see how the rest of his game, the build-up play, the pressing, all that fits in.”
Southgate has been accused of a negative approach to his tactics and was criticised for the Nations League performances so far.
“We want to win, we’re England, we want to keep winning football matches and this tournament. I also have to balance that with some World Cup preparation. I know sometimes you’ve got to look at those longer-term decisions, but the performance and ultimate result we got in Germany was important for us against a top team at home and this is another big test for us.”
A great opportunity for @tammyabraham, is he 2nd in line behind Kane? 2️⃣@themichaelowen seems to think so.#C4Football | #ThreeLions | #MutualRespect pic.twitter.com/HrmBylSt9d
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) June 11, 2022