England must keep beating the big guns to win Euro 2024.
That's the inspired message of Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate, who wants his team to show how good they are against Italy on Tuesday, and who hinted Trent Alexander-Arnold could play a key role in England's success going forward.
England can all but seal their place at next summer's finals in Germany with victory over the Azzurri as they bid to finally bury the hatchet with their old rivals on home soil.
Southgate said: "I think we know that these are the games that we've got to keep delivering in to really have belief going into next summer. We've had some good nights over the last few years. We hadn't won in Spain for 50-odd years, we hadn't won in Italy since whenever [1961]. We said after the World Cup that we had to start winning those games, especially away from home."
Southgate quickly refuted claims England will be using their agonising Euro 2020 penalty-shootout final defeat to the Azzurri as motivation to inflict further misery on their opponents.
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"I think there's enough motivation involved with this game - we're trying to qualify for the European Championship," the 53-year-old replied. We don't need any more motivation than that."
England ripped Italy apart in Naples in March during a statement first-half display full of attacking intent. But the 10-man Three Lions were forced to weather a significant storm after the interval as they battled their way to a hard-earned 2-1 victory following Luke Shaw's late red card.
Trent Alexander-Arnold's long-term England future could be in midfield (Channel 4 Sport)Southgate added: "That was a step forward. We did have to show resilience. We played really, really well in the first half of that game and then we had to sustain pressure, conceding a goal and going down to 10. There were good traits as there were last month as well. We'll have to show all of that again because as I've said Italy are revitalised under Luciano Spalletti - it will be a great game on Tuesday."
Southgate also indicated there is only one spot up for grabs in his Euro 2024 midfield - hinting Trent Alexander-Arnold is firmly in the mix to partner Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice in the centre of the park.
He added: "At the moment you'd be a brave man to leave either of those two out but who plays in there with them? There are definitely options there, we've got competition for places in the wide areas as well and competition at centre-back. So we've got competition all over the field, nobody can take their foot off the gas."
Southgate said of Liverpool star Alexander-Arnold: "I think he's a No.8 that represents a different option for us with his range of passing. Although we didn't play with a No.8 against Australia, which is why we played him at full-back, it is something we really like although one we're having to learn about in important games and in very short periods of time. He's got qualities that are very different to all of our midfield players and we want to keep looking at it as much as we can."
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