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Hodgson excited as England look ahead to Scotland friendly

Roy Hodgson insists he is eagerly anticipating England's upcoming friendly with arch rivals Scotland.

The Three Lions meet the Auld enemy in Glasgow in November, following Euro2016 qualifiers against San Marino, Estonia and Slovenia, and Hodgson believes it will provide a stern test for his side.

Scotland performed exceptionally well against World Champions Germany on Sunday, losing 2-1 in Dortmund, while England beat Switzerland 2-0 in Basel on Monday night but Hodgson is expecting a tough encounter against Gordon Strachan's men who are dealing with the possibility of becoming an independent nation away from the UK.

"Taking the independence [vote] out of it completely, that's going to be a very, very spiky game," said the England manager.

"It's going to be a game that's feisty. We're going to be in an atmosphere which many of these players won't have been in before.

"So I'm looking forward to that game because it will be another massive test for us, so different from playing Estonia away or Slovenia at home.

"I know our Premier League arenas are sold out and that the atmospheres are very good but Celtic Park when Scotland are playing England … if I believe Gary Neville, that's something a little bit special."

In regards to potential trouble between the two sets of supporters, Hodgson added: "Over the last decade we have been proud of our official travelling support and the improvement in behaviour, which has resulted in no arrests at any of the last four major tournaments.

"The England Supporters' Travel Club requires all members to have background checks and anyone in our official allocation will be ticketed through us. We will work with the authorities in both Scotland and England to ensure all relevant information is shared ahead of the event."

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