Liverpool midfielder James Milner says he is anticipating a tough clash against Wales in their Euro 2016 Group B encounter on Thursday.
The 30-year-old and his club colleagues Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson, Nathaniel Clyne and Daniel Sturridge will come up against fellow Anfield teammates Danny Ward and Joe Allen in Lens, reports the Liverpool website.
The former Manchester City midfielder believes that the match will be an interesting encounter, knowing that both side’s know each other very well.
‘Obviously it’s going to be tough. It’s a very different game to the first one. We all know each other very well, both sets of players, so it’ll be an interesting game,’ Milner said.
‘It’s perhaps more the type of game that we’re used to playing week-in, week-out but with a tournament atmosphere and it’s going to be a special occasion.’
Milner believes the Three Lions put in a good performer against Russia, despite their 1-1 draw in the opening fixture.
He believes that England should take positive feedback from their performance and should start focusing on winning their next match against Wales.
‘I think if you look at all the other games in the tournament so far, only one has really stood out and [we] put in a really good performance,’ the midfielder added.
‘We did that and stood out. We played a positive round of football, but ultimately didn’t get the result. We have to make sure we are a bit more ruthless. Hopefully we can get all three points in the next game.
‘[We] played pretty well in the first game of the tournament, but we don’t get the points. That’s the disappointing thing, but there are plenty of positives and we have to bounce back very quickly, get over it and look forward to the next game.’
Kick-off has been set for 15:00.