Wembley revenge? – England v Italy talking points

England host Italy at Wembley on Tuesday night knowing victory over the Azzurri will ensure qualification to Euro 2024.

Gareth Southgate’s side won 2-1 in Naples in March and now could wrap up qualification with another success against the defending champions.

Here, Football Mad takes a look at some of the main talking points ahead of the clash.

Arch rivals

Italy beat England on penalties to win the Euro 2020 final at Wembley (PA Media)

This will be the first clash between the two nations at Wembley since the Euro 2020 final – which Italy won on penalties.

Since then the sides have met on three occasions, twice in the Nations League before the fixture in Italy earlier this year.

England will be keen to exact a level of revenge on Tuesday night in a match which will have an impact on the outcome of the group.

Regular faces to return

Captain Harry Kane was an unused substitute in England’s friendly win over Australia (Nick Potts/PA)

After making 10 changes for Friday’s 1-0 friendly win over Australia, Southgate will no doubt bring back his big-hitters for the one competitive game of the October international break.

The team performance in the narrow victory will not have seen many of the rotated side push to replace the more established order.

Captain Harry Kane was an unused substitute against the Socceroos and will lead the line with the likes of Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham, who were not involved on Friday, returning.

Jordan jeered off again?

Friday’s friendly against Australia saw Jordan Henderson line-up on home soil for the first time since his controversial summer switch from Liverpool to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq.

Henderson has been a high-profile supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and last month apologised for any hurt he caused by moving to a country where homosexuality is illegal.

The stand-in skipper’s name was met by murmurs before kick-off and the midfielder ended up being booed when substituted, with Southgate left angry by a reaction he felt “defies logic”.

It remains to be seen, however, if the 33-year-old features against Italy, whether fans will respond in the same way.

Pressure off in November

Bukayo Saka’s hat-trick in a 7-0 win over North Macedonia last season has been a highlight of England’s qualification campaign (Tim Goode/PA)

Victory over Italy would seal England’s berth at Euro 2024 with two games of qualification still to play.

Those fixtures see Southgate’s side host minnows Malta at Wembley next month before travelling to face North Macedonia, who could still have an outside chance of reaching the finals themselves.

Going into those two games with the ability to experiment and look at players without the pressure of needing the points would be a handy outcome for Southgate, who has so little time to do so leading up to the finals.

Unsure Azzurri

Italy boss Luciano Spalletti will be hoping to guide the Azzurri to the Euros next summer (Fabio Ferrari/AP)

Southgate said Italy have been “revitalised” under new head coach Luciano Spalletti, but defeat in London could cost the visitors dear.

They may have lifted the European Championship at Wembley two years ago but they went on to miss out on the 2022 World Cup and have Ukraine – and to a lesser extent North Macedonia – to keep at bay.

Ukraine travel to Malta on Tuesday and will leapfrog Italy into second place if they better the result of Spalletti’s men, meaning their showdown meeting in Leverkusen in the final round of fixtures could essentially be a play-off to make it to Euro 2024.