- Date: Thursday October 17 – 19.45 BST
- Location: Wembley Stadium London, UK
- Teams: England vs Italy
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England host Italy in crucial qualifier
England
England are in a strong position Euro 2024 qualifying Group C and are currently in one of their most consistent eras. England implemented a long-term coaching strategy back in 2013 and this has paid dividends with an exciting young team and plenty of promise in the age-group sides. Manager Gareth Southgate has consistently seen his sides reach the later stages of tournaments and has successfully blended experienced players with emerging talent.
England have won four of their five qualifying matches, including a 2-1 over Italy in Naples. They drew their fifth qualifier against the Ukraine in Poland and sit six points clear of Italy, who have played a game fewer. A win or a draw would reinforce England’s position of strength, however, a defeat would put Italy right back into the picture and would give Ukraine the chance to close in too. Should England win, then they will seal qualification. A draw would surfice if Ukraine fail to beat Malta.
England may have been slightly disappointed with their draw against Ukraine, however, they dug in and made sure that they got a point despite not playing at their best. They followed this up with a convincing win over Scotland at Hampden in a friendly match to mark the 150th anniversary of the first international between the two nations.
Bukayo Saka was ruled out the Australia and Italy last week. Having missed Arsenal’s Premier League win against Manchester City on Sunday through injury, Saka was assessed by the England medical team and it was decided the player would continue his rehabilitation at his club. No replacement has been called up.
England began this round of international fixtures by beating Australia 1-0 in a friendly on Friday with an Ollie Watkins goal.
England squad
Goalkeepers: Sam Johnstone, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders: Levi Colwill, Lewis Dunk, Marc Guehi, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Fikayo Tomori, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice
Forwards: Jarrod Bowen, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Eddie Nketiah, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins
Italy
Undoubtedly a talented group of players, Italy have had a period of extreme highs and lows recently. After falling to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Roberto Mancini took the reins and they were deserved winners of Euro 2020. However, they failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Now under the stewardship of Luciano Spalletti, they have won two of their four Euro 2024 qualifiers, losing once, at home to England and drawing away at North Macedonia.
Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo left the Azzuri’s headquarters on Thursday after being told they were involved in an investigation by prosecutors over betting breaches. Italy began this round of international fixtures by beating Malta 4-0 to keep the pressure on England at the top of the group.
Federico Chiesa is doubtful, Ivan Provedel and Mattia Zaccagni look set to miss out.
Italy squad
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alex Meret, Ivan Provedel, Guglielmo Vicario.
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni, Cristiano Biraghi, Matteo Darmian, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Federico Dimarco, Federico Gatti, Gianluca Mancini, Giorgio Scalvini, Destiny Udogie.
Midfielders: Nicolo Barella, Giacomo Bonaventura, Bryan Cristante, Davide Frattesi, Manuel Locatelli.
Forwards: Domenico Berardi, Federico Chiesa, Moise Kean, Giacomo Raspadori, Gianluca Scamacca, Mattia Zaccagni, Nicolo Zaniolo.
Prediction
England face a tough task against Italy, however, under Southgate England usually find a way to get the job done and have the players to cause any team problems. While it will not be easy I think that England will come away with three points. Home win.
At the time of writing, bet365 have England at 7/10, Italy at 17/4 and a draw at 5/2.
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