England v Slovakia LIVE: Southgate avoids bold calls for Euro 2024 last-16 clash

A potential late worry for England: Jordan Pickford appears to have hurt himself warming up.

Kick off is swiftly approaching in Gelsenkirchen, where so far it seems that there has been no repeat of the travel issues that fans dealt with earlier in the tournament at the venue.

Your officials today are led by Turkey’s Umut Meler, by the way. Marco Fritz of Germany is on VAR duties.

Today marks another major bound forward in the remarkably rapid development of Kobbie Mainoo, who has risen from relative obscurity at the start of the season to be an England starter in a Euros knockout tie. Our Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney tells the tale of the teenage midfielder:

An experienced squad, a playing style built to get the best out of them and a national hero on the coaching staff – Lukas Vrablik explains the key qualities that give Slovakia belief that a quarter-final berth will be theirs.

So broadly as expected from both managers, with Gareth Southgate resisting the urge to rip things up. Can England get out of second gear this evening? It is striking how poor their forward line has been in the last two games particularly. If Slovakia do maintain their high-pressing style, you would think that will open up opportunities to play with greater pace and more directly.

On his selection, Southgate says: “I think those players over a period of time have proven themselves to be our best. We saw signs that our attack was starting to come together in our last game. We’ve got good players on the bench to come on and change things.

“They’ve pressed high in their previous games. We’ve got to be good enough to play through that pressure. We need composure and resilience – as we saw last night, anything can happen in these games. We’ve got to be ready to deal with that.”

Francesco Calzona sticks with the same starting line-up from the draw with Romania

Slovakia XI: Dubravka; Pekarik, Vavro, Skriniar, Hancko; Kucka, Lobotka, Duda; Schranz, Strelec, Haraslin.

A single alteration for England, with Kobbie Mainoo in for Conor Gallagher in midfield.

England XI: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Mainoo, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Foden.

Under-fire Gareth Southgate is embracing expectations and the “ultimate challenge” of trying to win the Euros rather than worrying whether tonight’s last-16 clash with Slovakia could be his final match.

Boos, and even some plastic cups, were aimed the long-serving manager’s way after Tuesday’s miserable 0-0 draw with Slovenia, which saw them win Group C but left fans and pundits unhappy.

Southgate knows the team have to find their “next level” as the knockout phase gets under way against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen, where they recorded their only win of these Euros a fortnight ago against Serbia.

Harry Kane believes he will be at “peak sharpness” as he looks to continue his fine knockout goalscoring record for England at Euro 2024.

Captain Kane may be England’s all-time leading goalscorer but his strike in the draw with Denmark was his first in the group stage of a major finals since the 2018 World Cup.

However, he will be buoyed by his recent record once the business end of the tournament begins against Slovakia on Sunday, having scored four in four at Euro 2020 as England were eventually beaten on penalties by Italy.