England coach Roy Hodgson is excited to be taking his squad to Italy this week.

After victory over Lithuania. Hodgson travels to Italy, where he is still feted for management spells at Inter Milan and Udinese, on the back of seven straight wins in the aftermath of last summer's ill-fated World Cup campaign.

He admitted: " Yes it's always a bit special. I have a lot of friends there. And of course it's an important game. Italy are a big team and it will be interesting for me because we have to make some changes.

"We have to keep our eye permanently on the ball and the ball for me is can we win matches in France 2016 with this group?

"It's nice to beat Scotland away and get a positive result in the other friendly matches but I am more interested in making certain I know the best players, they get the chance to play and will be ready in a year and a bit's time."