How to watch England U21s v Spain U21s, team news, predicted line-ups, pre-match quotes and more

England Under-21 take on Spain in the quarter-final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Trnava, Slovakia on Saturday evening. 

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the clash:

Kick-off time

8pm UK time

How to watch in the UK

TV channel: Channel 4

Injuries and suspensions

Spain U21: Martin (injured), Pubill (doubt)

England U21: none

Recent form

Spain topped their group, beating both Slovakia and Romania and drawing with Italy. 

Santi Denia’s side scored an injury-time winner against Slovakia, as well as staging a comeback against Romania with two goals in the final 10 minutes. 

La Roja named a rested side against Italy in order to prepare for the quarter-final, with ten changes from their 2-1 win against Romania. 

England qualified second in their group after a 2-1 loss to Germany and 0-0 draw with Slovenia. There were positive signs in all the games, including a 3-1 win against Czechia, but they will need to step up a level to beat Spain. 

A lack of ruthlessness in front of goal has summarised their campaign up so far, with plenty of chances being wasted. 

Carsley did opt to rest players with six changes in the Germany game, but England have one less day of preparation after playing on Wednesday. 

Predicted line-ups:

Spain (4-2-3-1): Iturbe; Bueno, Mosquera, Tárrega, Pubill; Turrientes, Guerra; Lopez, Torre, Sánchez; Joseph

England (4-2-2-2): Beadle; Livramento, Quansah, Cresswell, Hinshelwood; Scott, Anderson; Elliott, Nwaneri; Hutchinson, Stansfield

What’s been said?

Lee Carsley played down his side’s underdog tag: “I don’t feel like an underdog. I think there’s a massive expectancy against Spain that we can perform and that’s all we need to do.”

On matching Spain’s intensity, he added: “If we’re going to control the game, we need players that are capable of taking the ball but also running. We almost want the best of both worlds. At a minimum, we have to manage and match Spain’s intensity and physicality and then impose our own style on them.”