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England and Italy begin their final preparations for this summer's UEFA Women's Euro 2017 tournament as they meet for a friendly at Port Vale's Vale Park on Friday.

The Netherlands tournament does not get under way until July. But the Lionesses' clash with Italy and their subsequent meeting with Austria on Monday will be their last two home games before the tournament.

Here are the full details for the clash.

Date: Friday, April 7

Time: 7:45 p.m. BST, 2:45 p.m. ET

Live Stream: TBC (see Women's Soccer United for details)

Football writer Tony Leighton provided the England squad head coach Mark Sampson will pick from for the two friendlies, with Birmingham City's Jess Carter and Manchester City's Mel Lawley earning their first senior call-ups:

The Lionesses will be eager to be well prepared for the Euros as they look to improve on the third place they earned at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada.

Italy are a decent outfit and will get their Euros campaign under way in Group B against Russia on July 17.

England's opener in Group D will come two days later in a clash with Scotland, so they will have to hit the ground running if they are to go deep at the tournament.

Sampson explained how important the clashes against Italy and Austria will be as they look ahead to the summer, per The FA: "These games are really important for us in our preparation for the Euros. We are looking forward to playing in front of our supporters and hopefully getting two good results on our road to the Netherlands."

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England's form has been mixed of late. They enjoyed a historic win over the United States in New Jersey at the She Believes Cup early last month.

But that landmark result was sandwiched between defeats to Germany and France, two teams who will be fancied by many to triumph in the Netherlands.

A strong result against Italy is necessary for Sampson's side to lay down a marker ahead of the summer's major tournament.

England are favourites to beat the Italians—they are ranked fourth and 19th, respectively, in the world, per FIFA.

And Italy's recent woes at the 2017 Cyprus Cup in March will give England confidence they can get a good result on Friday—the Italians lost heavily in all three of their group matches to North Korea, Belgium and Switzerland.