Preview: England MU21s v Israel

England men's under-21s are in semi-final action against Israel on Wednesday evening, as the Young Lions aim to secure a spot in the UEFA U21 EURO Final for the first time since 2009.

Lee Carsley's Young Lions have enjoyed an impression campaign so far at the tournament in Georgia and Romania, having won all three of their group stage matches against Czechia, Israel and Germany before edging out Portugal in the quarter-final.

They will now tackle the Israelis for a second time in the competition, having beaten them by 2-0 last weekend, but the stakes have become even higher this time with a place in Saturday's Final at stake.

Carsley will be forced into making changes to the team which beat Portugal, as defenders Max Aarons and Ben Johnson are both ruled out through suspension having collected two cautions in the competition so far.

In addition to that, Jacob Ramsey will play no further part in our UEFA MU21 EUROs campaign and will return to England for further assessment after picking up an injury during the victory over Portugal on Sunday evening.

Fans in the UK can watch Wednesday's match, which kicks-off at 5pm BST, live via UEFA.TV as well as following updates from the Batumi Arena via our official social media channels @England on Twitter and Instagram.

Match Stats

● England face Israel in the semi-finals of the UEFA U21 EUROs having already defeated them 2-0 during the group stages earlier in the tournament. England have now won three of their four meetings with Israel, losing the other game at the 2013 edition.

● Israel (37.3%) have the lowest average possession figure of any of the four remaining semi-finalists in this tournament, with the other three sides all above 50 percent (Spain – 60.1%, England – 58.5%, Ukraine – 52%). Israel have had only five ‘build up attacks’, while England have had 26.

● England have won four consecutive games at a single edition of an international tournament for the first time since 2016, when they won the Maurice Revello Tournament (then named the Toulon Tournament) with five wins from five games under Gareth Southgate.

● Morgan Gibbs-White has assisted three goals at this year’s UEFA U21 EUROs, the most of any player. Gibbs-White has also created the most chances (9) and played the most passes/crosses into the opposition box (24) of any England player at this tournament.

● England’s James Trafford has kept a clean sheet in all four of his appearances at this year’s UEFA U21 EUROs, recording twice as many shut-outs as any other goalkeeper, saving all ten on-target shots he has faced.