Italy’s campaign to reach Euro 2016 continues on Monday evening when they travel to the tiny island nation of Malta for a match Antonio Conte’s side are expected to win heavily.
A narrow 2-1 victory over Azerbaijan last time out wasn’t nearly as satisfying a win as the new Azzurri coach would have hoped for and he will be looking for a more satisfying margin of victory against the world’s 155th ranked side.
Giorgio Chiellini was at the centre of attention against Azerbaijan as he remarkably scored all three goals in the win, but the all-round performance was poor and a big improvement will be expected.
Conte has expressed his frustration at the side’s inability to be clinical and will be wanting to see his team put out a ruthless performance to make it three straight wins in the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
As well as the 2-1 win on Friday, Italy won their opening match of the campaign 2-0 away to Norway.
Malta and Italy are no strangers to each other, having already faced off in 2012 and 2013 as part of their qualifying group for the World Cup in Brazil.
On those occasions, the Azzurri won both ties 2-0 and they will be expected to enjoy similar success this time around as Malta have lost their opening two matches 2-0 to Croatia and 3-0 to Denmark.
The Italians have a 100 percent win rate from the five times the teams have played each other in the past, the first of which was a 5-0 win in 1987.
Big changes are expected to be made to the Italian side after such a disappointing performance against Azerbaijan, as Graziano Pelle, Marco Verratti and Antonio Candreva are all expected to start.
Mattia De Sciglio and Simone Zaza are struggling with slight injury problems and are expected to be dropped from the starting lineup.
Ciro Immobile should retain his place and it looks likely that Fiorentina’s Manuel Pasqual will step into the team.
The defence appears set to remain unchanged, but Andrea Pirlo will likely be rested for Verratti and Andrea Poli or Marco Parolo could challenge Alessandro Florenzi for the remaining midfield spot.
Expected Starting XIs
Malta (3-5-2) Hogg; P.Fenech, Agius, Camilleri; Borg, R.Muscat, R.Fenech, Z.Muscat, Failla; Schembri, Mifsud
Italy (3-5-2) Buffon; Ranocchia, Bonucci, Chiellini; Candreva, Marchisio, Verratti, Florenzi, Pasqual; Immobile, Pellè
