Ireland primed for Wembley battle as pressure on England to win group

Heimir Hallgrimsson will have his side primed for battle from the opening exchanges as Ireland take on England at Wembley Stadium on Sunday evening, (kick-off 5pm).

Ireland's Nations League campaign comes to a close with third place locked in, while their opponents will be gunning for a victory that would see them promoted back to the top tier of the competition.

The manager had bemoaned the fact that Ireland have been slow to start certain games, citing the away game in Greece last month as an example, where his side only got going after conceding to the hosts early in the second half.

And Hallgrimsson knows that such is the quality of the England outfit that a similar scenario could prove fatal in terms of extracting a result from the final fixture.

The manager is wary of lightning striking twice against Lee Carsley’s side after an early goal in the return game in September proved too tough a task for Ireland, with England soon adding another and easing through the second half for a very comfortable victory.

But this time, he is hopeful that his team can remain competitive and eventually exploit some of the weaknesses that he has identified in his opponents' armour.

"Of course, we know what kind of threat England gives us and if we are not ready from the first minute, they will punish us," said Hallgrimsson, when asked how vital it was that his team are immediately comfortable, both tactically and in formation.

"It kind of happened in Dublin; they made a pass through the centre of our team, easy goal.

"It’s a team that if we give them a chance they will probably take it. They have such an attacking quality in that team, but there are weaknesses as well, so we are going to try to exploit them."

Ireland opted to train in Dublin