England vs Malta LIVE: Euro 2024 result and highlights after Three Lions win at Wembley

England players have only four more international games in which to impress Gareth Southgate before the manager names his squad for Euro 2024.

Southgate’s team qualified for the tournament, which will be hosted by Germany next summer, with a stylish 3-1 win over reigning champions Italy at Wembley Stadium, the venue for that agonising shootout defeat by the Azzurri in 2021.

Now England can look ahead to the Euros, with two final qualifiers against Group C minnows Malta and North Macedonia to come in November, before two friendlies at Wembley in the spring.

England have met Malta on five previous occasions with the Three Lions enjoying a 100% win ratio against the Red Falcons. The first game came back in February 1971, when it ended in a 1-0 draw in Gzira courtesy of a first-half goal from Martin Peters.

Malta were also the first opposition for current England boss Gareth Southgate, as he took charge as interim manager for the game at Wembley in October 2016.

With victories over Italy and Ukraine already under their belts, England have secured top spot in Group C but hey will be mathematically uncatchable if they pick up at least one point this evening.

Gareth Southgate has been clear that he does not want a drop off in standards for their final two games against minnows Malta and North Macedonia.

"England always have to win and the message is about our standards on the training pitch - being a top team stems from having good habits every day - never a day off if you’re a top player." he said in the build-up to the game.

With Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell both injured, England have something of a left-back problem with manager Gareth Southgate filling the position with non-specialist players during their absences.

"We have centre-backs who can slide across," he said when talking about those who could play at left-back. "You’d like to have natural full-backs.

“The reality is that even if you look at the league, [Newcastle’s] Dan Burn is a centre-back playing at full-back, [Arsenal’s] Ben White is playing at full-back.

"Germany had [Benedikt] Howedes there when they won the World Cup. There are a vast number of English qualified left-backs who are injured in the league. There are different ways to solve those problems."

Gareth Southgate showed footage of Sir Bobby Charlton to his squad ahead of England paying tribute to the 1966 World Cup winner at Wembley.

The jewel in the crown for club and country, the news of Charlton’s death at the age of 86 on October 21 reverberated around the world.

Southgate was at Charlton’s funeral at Manchester Cathedral on Monday and further tributes will be paid to the England and Manchester United great on Friday evening at Wembley.

Malta failed to have a shot against England in the reverse fixture at their home ground and things should play out in a similar way tonight. Gareth Southgate’s team will dominate and look to notch up as big a score as they can.

Jordan Pickford, or whichever goalkeeper Southgate elects to go with, will be in for a quiet time while the attacking talent will all be eager to get on the field.

England should win comfortably.

England 5-0 Malta.

England have suffered a number of withdrawals from their squad for this fixture and their final qualifier against North Macedonia, with Jude Bellingham and James Maddison the headline names pulling out after strong starts to the season. There is still no place for Raheem Sterling among Gareth Southgate’s group, though, with Chelsea teammate Cole Palmer earning a call up instead and perhaps in line for a senior international debut.

Kemar Reid has earned a first call up for Malta, with the Floriana player now a naturalised citizen of the country. Jodi Jones of Notts County is among the foreign-based contingent and should feature up front, while midfielder Teddy Teuma is also back amongst things after missing the fixture against Italy earlier in the month with an ankle injury.

Predicted line-ups

England XI: Pickford; Walker, Maguire, Guehi, Trippier; Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Gallagher; Saka, Kane, Foden.

Malta XI: Bonnello; Mbong, S. Borg, Pepe, J. Borg, Camenzuli; Teuma, Guillaumier, Muscat; Jones, Nwoko.

England vs Malta is due to kick off at 7.45pm GMT on Friday 17 November at Wembley Stadium in London.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on Channel 4, with coverage on the channel from 7pm GMT. A live stream will be available via the Channel 4 website and app.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch the event, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are, and also with the terms of their service provider.

Good evening and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s international break action as England host Malta at Wembley in a qualifying match for Euro 2024.

The Three Lions have already secured their spot at next summer’s tournament and are aiming to finish at the top of the group in order to gain a high seeding for the Euros - which should lead to an easier group for that competition.

A few members of Gareth Southgate’s initial squad have dropped so their may be some surprises included in tonight’s starting line-up. Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis and Ezri Konsa have all been called up so they may feature over the next two matches with England also taking on North Macedonia on Monday.

We’ll have all the updates, team news and match action throughout the night so stick with us as e build up to kick off at 7.45pm.