England vs Italy LIVE: Euro 2024 qualifier latest updates

Gareth Southgate changes his entire starting XI as England set out to qualify for Euro 2024 with at least a draw against Italy.

The England manager had fielded a much-changed side for Friday’s 1-0 friendly win over Australia but the more established names returned.

Captain Harry Kane led the line while Southgate kept faith with Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips despite the minimal game-time for their respective clubs.

England’s last Wembley fixture against Italy was the Euro 2020 final defeat and eight of that side started here, while only three from the victorious Azzurri team made it into this clash – Gianluigi Donnarumma, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Nicolo Barella.

England XI: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Phillips, Rice, Foden, Bellingham, Rashford, Kane

Italy XI: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Scalvini, Acerbi, Udogie, Frattesi, Cristante, Barella, Berardi, Scamacca, El Shaarawy

Italy XI: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Scalvini, Acerbi, Udogie, Frattesi, Cristante, Barella, Berardi, Scamacca, El Shaarawy

“I’ll always pick the players that I think are the best players to represent the team,” he told a press conference on Monday, 16 October, ahead of a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy.

Following their 2-1 win in March, England are looking for consecutive wins over Italy for only the second time, also doing so with wins in 1948 and 1949.

Will they be able to pull it off tonight?

The Three Lions have arrived at Wembley and the team news for tonight’s match will be dropping shortly. Who will make the starting XI?

Gareth Southgate vowed not to let a “popularity contest” sway his selections as the England boss threw his full support behind Jordan Henderson days after the stand-in skipper was jeered off at Wembley.

The Euro 2020 runners-up are within touching distance of qualifying for next summer’s finals and will seal their spot in Germany should they avoid defeat to Italy on Tuesday evening.

Wembley will welcome a second sell-out crowd in five days after Friday’s friendly against Australia brought an impressive turnout for what proved to be a largely forgettable 1-0 friendly win.

Gareth Southgate says his England team are determined to keep producing memorable nights for the fans and says that qualifying for major tournaments is a big step towards that goal.

The Three Lions need just a draw against Italy to secure their place at next summer’s Euro 2024, due to their head-to-head record over the other teams, but Southgate is determined to win all three points this evening.

“Ultimately, the first objective is always to qualify for the tournaments and our performances earlier in the group have put us in a really strong position,” he said,

“So the first thing we want to do is play well and win the game but we know if it’s the 87th minute and we’re level, then we don’t need to lob the goalkeeper into the box at the end of the game.”

Things are usually fairly equal when the Three Lions take on Italy with most matches being decided by the odd goal here or there. Over the last three fixtures there has been one win and one loss for each team with a draw also being shared.

Here are the last three England vs Italy results:

Italy 1-2 England – 23 March 2023, Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Napoli

Italy 1-0 England – 23 September 2022, San Siro, Milan

England 0-0 Italy – 11 June 2022, Molineux, Wolverhampton

The Three Lions have met Italy on 31 previous occasions over the years, with England winning nine times, drawing nine times and losing 13 times. The first meeting between the teams came back in May 1933, when it ended in a 1-1 draw in Rome.

Will England add to their winning tally this evening?

After a winter World Cup in Qatar which saw Argentina defeat France in an unbelievable final, the qualifying rounds for Uefa Euro 2024 are here.

If it feels like that’s come around quickly, that’s because it has. The World Cup taking place in December 2022 rather than the tradtional summer slot meant that there was only 18 months between the World Cup and the Euros, rather than the customary two years.

The last European Championship was delayed due to Covid and took place all over Europe with many games taking place at Wembley. It was Wembley where England heartbreakingly lost the final to Italy on penalties after taking an extremely early lead on the night through Luke Shaw.