Italy v England Preview: Kane set to start after dream debut

Harry Kane is set to be handed his first start for England as Roy Hodgson’s side face Italy in a friendly on Tuesday.

It took just 78 seconds for the Tottenham striker to score his first goal for England after making his senior debut as a second-half substitute in Friday’s 4-0 win against Lithuania.

And with Danny Welbeck pulling out of the squad with a knee injury, it could pave the way for the 21-year-old to start alongside Wayne Rooney, who is now two short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 England goals.

Hodgson is likely to name an experimental side after Welbeck, James Milner, Raheem Sterling and Leighton Baines pulled out of the squad ahead of the fixture in Turin.

“We’ve got a tougher test ahead of us against Italy and we will be playing that game with players we wouldn’t normally rely upon,” the England manager told the FA’s official website.

“Italy and Ireland [whom England face in June] will be, to some extent, experimental and a chance [for players] to break in to what we think is our best XI.”

Southampton left-back Ryan Bertrand, who has been capped twice by England, is competing with Kieran Gibbs for a spot on the left flank, while Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason could be given his senior debut.

Italy head into Tuesday’s game following a 2-2 draw away to Bulgaria in their Euro 2016 qualifying fixture. Antonio Conte’s side were on course for their first defeat in Group H before Eder struck a late equaliser in the 84th minute.

Conte has also received death threats after Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio was was ruled out for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury suffered during a training session with the national side.

“These things I won’t forget because they hurt me. Having said that, I only ask to do what I have always done,” said the Italy coach. “I always worked hard in my life, sometimes delivering good results, sometimes less, but I always worked hard.

“So the only thing I’m asking is to let me be free to work with this team. I think that I was called to manage Italy to work so I would like to be able to work in peace and then be judged for my results.

“In these days I heard some underhand statements and those I can’t forget, even because I have a memory like an elephant.

“Now we will focus on Tuesday’s game against England. It is a prestigious friendly in which I want to test some of the new players who have joined the national team for the first time so it will be an important international test to verify if the players I called up deserve to stay in the national team.”