Preview: Italy vs. England - prediction team news, lineups

Italy welcome England to the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday afternoon for the penultimate weekend of this year's Six Nations Championships.

Gonzalo Quesada's side lost 33-8 away to France in round three, while Steve Borthwick's men suffered a disappointing 42-21 defeat against Ireland at Twickenham.

Match preview

After winning against Scotland in Rome on the opening weekend of this year's competition, Gli Azzurri come into Saturday's game off the back of consecutive losses to Ireland and France.

Although they have been solid in defence and conceded only 68 points, a total that can only be bettered by France and Scotland, Italy have faltered in attack, scoring fewer tries than any other side in the competition.

If Quesada's men were to beat England on Saturday, they would leapfrog Borthwick's side into fourth place in the table, a position that they have not finished in the tournament in since 2013 when they beat both France and Ireland.

However, to do so Italy would have to create history and beat England for the first time ever, with this contest the tournament's only remaining tie where one side holds a 100% record over their opponents.

© Iconsport / PA Images

Following a streak of 12 consecutive wins, England have lost back-to-back games for the first time since November 2024 as their championship hopes have been crushed to a pulp.

After their convincing victory against Wales on the opening weekend, Borthwick's men have tasted defeat against both Scotland and Ireland in what have been two of the worst performances during the tenure of the former Leicester Tigers head coach.

While England fans will no doubt be disappointed with the defeats, perhaps the more concerning issue is how lacklustre they have looked in both matches, finding themselves convincingly second best in both encounters and starting the games particularly sluggishly.

If the visitors want to avoid being sucked into the wooden spoon scrap, they will need to up their game and return to winning ways in Rome, a city in which they have won their previous 13 consecutive matches.

Italy Six Nations form:

Italy form (all competitions):

England Six Nations form:

England form (all competitions):

Team News

© Iconsport / PA Images

For the fourth consecutive match, Quesada has named an unchanged scrum with Michele Lamaro captaining the side from blind-side flanker and Lorenzo Cannone on the back row.

However, there are multiple changes across the backline as Alessandro Fusco is replaced by Alessandro Garbisi at scrum-half, Juan Ignacio Brex comes in for Leonardo Marin in the centre and Ange Capuozzo makes way for Lorenzo Pani at full-back.

Borthwick has made a plethora of changes to the scrum that started the match against Ireland, with Luke Cowan-Dickie replaced by Jamie George at hooker, Alex Coles coming in for Ollie Chessum on the second row and Henry Pollock making way for Guy Pepper as Ben Earl shifts to number eight.

Tommy Freeman is the only man to keep his place from the backline that was deployed against Ireland, with Ben Spencer starting at nine, Fin Smith returning to fly-half, Cadan Murley and Tom Roebuck selected on either wing, Seb Atkinson preferred at inside centre and Elliot Daly replacing Freddie Steward at full-back.

Italy starting lineup: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 6 Michele Lamaro, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 8 Lorenzo Cannone

Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Tommaso Allan

England starting lineup: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Ben Spencer, 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Ben Earl

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Jack Van Poortvliet, 23 Marcus Smith

We say: Italy 18-20 England

Saturday's contest has the potential to be the tightest match of this year's championship with Italy looking much better than recent years and England reeling off the back of their recent woes.

However, although we think it will be Gli Azzurri's best attempt at toppling England to date, we back the visitors to maintain their perfect record against Italy in what will be a tight and cagey match at the Stadio Olimpico.