LONDON: England and Italy played out a humdrum scoreless draw in front of empty stands as Gareth Southgate experimented against the inexperienced Azzurri in the Nations League.

Following the shock 1-0 loss in Hungary and Tuesday’s hard-fought 1-1 draw in Germany, the Three Lions continued their World Cup preparations against Roberto Mancini’s European champions in Wolverhampton.

The vibe around this Nations League encounter could not have been more different to the Euro 2020 final at Wembley 11 months ago, when crowd trouble compounded England’s agonising penalty shoot-out loss to Italy.

That fan disorder meant Saturday evening’s reunion had to be played behind closed doors at Molineux, where the Group A3 clash ended in a forgettable 0-0 draw.

There were just seven starters from the Euro 2020 final line-ups as Southgate tested his peripheral players before a winter World Cup from which Italy will be absent, allowing Mancini to fully focus on their rebuild.

Mason Mount hit the crossbar early on and Aaron Ramsdale denied Sandro Tonali in an open first half that made way for a second period disrupted by substitutions.

Stand-in skipper Raheem Sterling wasted the hosts’ best chance in a match watched by a couple of thousand school children. There were a few boos from the kids at full-time.

inflicting another defeat on Southgate’s outfit, who remain bottom of Group A3 with two points after three games.

This was the third of four games in 11 days for England, after a draw in Germany followed an opening defeat by Hungary, and saw boss Southgate make six changes from that result in Munich.

The packed schedule comes straight after a long domestic season which itself the players had little time to recover for following last summer’s delayed Euros, when Southgate’s side finished as runners-up to a buoyant Italy outfit.

Despite that, and having taken England to the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup, Southgate continues to divide opinion – which England manager hasn’t? – and perhaps the combination of tired legs and an unfamiliar starting XI caused their lack of cohesion in attack.

The hosts were not adventurous enough, and too predictable, to trouble a well-organised but hardly vintage Italian side as much as they would have liked, with Roberto Mancini’s outfit also barely recognisable from their Euros victory last summer.

That said, England will feel they had chances to win the game.

Tammy Abraham, who finished the season with 17 goals in Serie A, was presented a glorious chance when goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma fluffed his pass but Manuel Locatelli’s last-ditch challenge threw the forward off his stride as he shaped to shoot.

Mount then fired against the bar after being played in by Sterling, who could only help James’ enticing delivery from the right-hand side over the top himself in the second half.

That was the result of a long, patient build-up, but too often England were slow in transition and easy to defend against.

At the other end, Arsenal’s Ramsdale, in for Jordan Pickford, did his future with the national team no harm by making several smart stops from a flurry of swift Italy attacks in the first half.

It means England remain without a victory over Italy since 2012, and in a competitive fixture since 1977.

Much-changed Italy remain unbeaten

While Italy’s last meeting with England saw Mancini’s side crowned European champions, the Azzurri were eliminated in World Cup qualifying in a shock play-off semi-final defeat by North Macedonia in March and will not be heading to Qatar later this year.

Their Nations League campaign got off to a more promising start with a draw against Germany and victory over Hungary and they remain unbeaten after a well-earned draw in Wolverhampton, as former Manchester City boss Mancini plots for their long-term future.

Just two of the players who started against England in the final at Wembley last summer began this one, but the visitors still managed to create several decent openings, especially in the first half.

Davide Frattesi missed a huge chance to give them the lead in the opening moments when he slid a low effort beyond the far post, while Ramsdale produced a superb stop to keep out Sandro Tonali.

Ginaluca Scamacca also sliced over from a dangerous position as Italy finished the opening 45 minutes with purpose, but were unable to build on that momentum after the break.

Dutch held

Memphis Depay missed an added-time penalty as Netherlands fell short of completing a famous fightback in a Nations League draw against Poland.

Louis van Gaal’s side dominated for long periods but fell behind to Matty Cash’s angled drive from 20 yards.

Przemyslaw Frankowski then beat the Dutch offside trap to tee up a tap in for Piotr Zielinski to extend the Poles’ lead just after the break.

But Davy Klaassen prodded in for the hosts before Denzel Dumfries levelled.

And after appearing to be in serious trouble, the Dutch almost made it three wins from three in their Nations League campaign when Cash was adjudged to have handled late on after a VAR check.

However, Barcelona forward Depay sliced his penalty and saw it deflect away off the right post.

Ajax midfielder Klaassen had earlier sparked the home side’s recovery, expertly steering in a deflected cross from club team-mate Daley Blind, while Inter Milan right-back Dumfries found the right corner after being played in by Depay.

It was no more than the hosts deserved, with Blind and Depay both also spurning other excellent opportunities to get on the scoresheet.

** Brennan Johnson’s first international goal gave Wales a deserved 1-1 Nations League draw against Belgium in Cardiff.

###