Gareth Southgate explains some of his choices in the England squad against ‘one of the top nations in the world’ Italy in tonight’s EURO 2024 qualifier.
It kicks off at Wembley Stadium at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
This is the first meeting at this stadium since the EURO 2020 Final, which the Azzurri won on penalties to take the trophy back to Rome.
Southgate insists the England team has changed since then and now has “experience of winning big matches, consistent performances. We’ve been ranked in the top five in the world since 2018.”
Jordan Henderson was booed during the friendly match against Scotland and has been dropped in favour of Kalvin Phillips. Southgate was asked if that decision was in part caused by the fan reaction.
“No, it’s tactical. Kalvin did a really good job up in Scotland, he’s a different sort of player to Hendo, but for this game he suits what we’re trying to do,” Southgate told Channel 4.
Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden join Jude Bellingham in supporting centre-forward Harry Kane, hoping to repeat the 2-1 victory in Naples back in March.
“I hope to see what we saw that night, really, mixing their game, runs in behind, play coming to feet, nice balance of different attributes. They were crisp with their forward play, they were reliable in possession of the ball.
“Tonight is a really good test against one of the top nations in the world. We have to go and cause them as many problems as we can.”
This guys a clown he could field his u21s against this Italy side and still win!
There was nothing tactical about this win.