England will meet Italy in a nearly empty stadium in Saturday’s UEFA Nations League clash in Molineux. Earlier, the English Football Association was handed a two game ban, one of which has been suspended, following the behaviour of England fans ahead of their defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley last summer.

Around 3,000 spectators will be in attendance on Saturday, mostly school children under the age of 14, who will have free entry to games that will be played behind closed doors, as per UEFA rules.

England manager Gareth Southgate admitted it is an "embarrassment" for the country that the Three Lions will face Italy in a near-empty stadium. “If it’s embarrassing, it’s for England as a country,” he said. 

"A lot of the people who caused the problems, which I’m not sure about, were football fans. We spoke enough about it, we spoke about it after the final and when the punishment was first given."

Despite those four Nations League Group A3 games coming at the end of a long season, Southgate maintained that any of his fit players are capable of playing against Italy.

"We could get 90 minutes out of any of the squad tomorrow, whether we do that is another matter, but all of the players are physically in good condition. Two days between the games isn't really ideal across a four game span, but yeah we've got no concerns about any of the players in that situation." he said.

(With input from AP)