There is expected to be a sombre mood around Wembley when England host France in an international friendly on Tuesday night, four days after Paris was struck by deadly terrorist attacks, resulting in the deaths of 129 people.
The option of cancelling the game was discussed, but the France Football Federation decided to go ahead with the friendly as both nations continue their preparations for Euro 2016.
England
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International friendlies are never the most competitive of fixtures, and Tuesday evening's meeting between England and France is expected to be even less so as the world continues to come to terms with the events that rocked Paris on Friday evening.
At least 129 people have been confirmed dead after terrorists targeted six separate locations in Paris, one of which was the Stade de France where the national team were playing Germany.
Three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside of the stadium, while reports have claimed that one of them tried to gain entry to the ground where thousands of football fans were watching the two teams in action.
The English Football Association offered to cancel the fixture in the aftermath of the tragedy, but the French football authorities chose to go ahead with the clash at Wembley.
The players and coaching staff, who took part in a Europe-wide minute's silence for the victims of the tragedy at 11am today, will pay tributes prior to kickoff and Wembley will display the words to the French national anthem La Marseillaise on screens to encourage both sets of fans to sing.
From a football perspective, Roy Hodgson's side head into this match on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Spain in Alicante on Friday evening.
England's 15-game unbeaten run came to an end, and it was the first time in months that the Three Lions had faced a higher calibre of opposition.
With all due respect to Switzerland, Estonia, Slovenia, San Marino and Lithuania, England were handed a relatively easy draw in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and managed to come through it with a 100% record.
The Three Lions faced a sterner test in Alicante, and while Mario Gaspar and Santi Cazorla dampened England's morale by scoring the two goals of the game, England can feel no shame in suffering at the hands of the European champions.
With regards to Tuesday's fixture, Hodgson has no expectations given the tragic circumstances that surround the game. This afternoon he told reporters: "I can't imagine how this game is going to go, quite simply because I have never been in this situation before."
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France
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France's players have endured an emotional few days, along with their compatriots, following the terrorist attacks in their country's capital, but they have decided that it will not prevent them from doing their job on Tuesday night.
Reports have claimed that players were given the option by manager Didier Deschamps of sitting out of this game, but every single member of the squad has agreed to take part.
During France's friendly against Germany, which ended in a 2-0 victory for Les Bleus, two explosions could be heard outside of the Stade de France, which turned out to be suicide bombers detonating their vests.
At the time, there was confusion in the stadium and the country's president Francois Hollande, who was attending the game, was swiftly removed from the ground once he had been informed that terrorists were attacking various parts of the city.
The game completed 90 minutes and it was only afterwards when players and supporters began to realise what was unfolding.
Both France and Germany's footballers stayed in the stadium overnight, and two of the French team were personally affected by the tragic events - Lassana Diarra's cousin Asta Diakite was one of the fatalities, while Antoine Griezmann's sister Maud managed to escape the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people lost their lives.
On the pitch, France, who qualified for the European Championships automatically as they are the host nation, have had a mixed bag of results in friendlies this year.
The team have suffered defeats to Brazil, Belgium and Albania in the last eight months, but they have been on a decent run of form since September.
Deschamps's side have won their last five friendlies, beating Portugal, Serbia, Armenia, Denmark and more recently Germany, with Olivier Giroud and Andre-Pierre Gignac getting on the scoresheet.
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Team News
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England have been struck down with a number of injuries in the last few days - the major absentees being Jamie Vardy and Michael Carrick, whose diagnosis is undetermined but is feared to be ankle ligament damage.
Fabian Delph has also been ruled out of the match, which is bad news for Manchester City as the midfielder has only recently returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Captain Wayne Rooney was rested for the game against Spain, but will lead the team out at Wembley on Tuesday night before possibly taking up the position just behind striker Harry Kane.
After playing against Spain, Joe Hart may hand over the goalkeeping duties to Jack Butland, while Eric Dier could make his full debut for the Three Lions, sharing a midfield with Jonjo Shelvey.
Ryan Mason and Jesse Lingard, who is yet to make his senior England debut, have been called into the squad and could feature during the match, but both are likely to start on the bench.
For France, both Diarra and Griezmann have declared themselves mentally fit to play, despite having personal connections to the tragedy in Paris, and while the latter could be handed a starting spot, Lassana is likely to be on the bench.
Premier League players Anthony Martial, Morgan Schneiderlin, Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna and Giroud could all be part of the first XI, while Juventus star Paul Pogba may be part of a three-man midfield, which could also include Blaise Matuidi.
England possible starting lineup:
Butland; Walker, Cahill, Stones, Bertrand; Dier, Shelvey; Sterling, Rooney, Lallana; Kane
France possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Sagna, Varane, Koscielny, Evra; Schneiderlin, Pogba, Matuidi; Griezmann, Giroud, Martial
Head To Head
The statistics are not good reading for England as they have failed to claim a win in all of their last six matches against France, who have won four times and drawn twice with the Three Lions in that time.
The last match-up between the two nations was in the group stages of Euro 2012, and ended in a 1-1 draw, with Joleon Lescott opening the scoring for England and Samir Nasri snatching a point for Les Bleus.
In the last six matches between the teams, France have scored either one goal or two in every single one of the contests.
We say: England 1-1 France
The outcome of this match will be relatively meaningless as most of the focus will be about paying tribute to the 129 people who died in Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris. While the game was pencilled in as decent preparation for next summer's European Championships, the players will not have that thought in the back of their minds when they walk onto the pitch on Tuesday evening. France have the edge given that past results are on their side, but a draw is a likely outcome in what will be an emotional evening.
Danielle Joynson
