Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips 'to start for England against Italy'
Out-of-favour Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips is reportedly set to start for England in Tuesday's Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy at Wembley.
Gareth Southgate's men could punch their ticket to Germany with two games to spare this week, having amassed 13 points from their opening five matches in Group C so far.
The Three Lions sit three points better off than Italy and Ukraine, who play each other on the final matchday, and a point would be enough to guarantee a top-two finish owing to their superior head-to-head results.
England warmed up for their reunion with the Azzurri by scraping a 1-0 friendly win over Australia on Friday, where Southgate unsurprisingly made a plethora of changes to his regular starting XI.
A midfield of Jordan Henderson, Conor Gallagher and James Maddison took to the field at Wembley last week, while Phillips was brought on as a second-half substitute to see out the narrow victory.
According to Sky Sports News, the former Leeds United man will now be brought back into the starting lineup for England on Tuesday, in spite of his dismal domestic fortunes in recent months.
Phillips played a fundamental role in Leeds' rise to the Premier League and subsequent consolidation in the top flight, earning a £45m move to Man City in the summer of 2022.
The 27-year-old arrived as a successor to long-serving captain Fernandinho, but he was plagued by a shoulder injury in his debut campaign and was also behind Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in the pecking order.
The arrivals of Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic this summer have also made it difficult for Phillips to make a name for himself under Pep Guardiola, who has offered him just 167 minutes in the current campaign.
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