Roy Hodgson hoping to escape penalties

Roy Hodgson has admitted that he is keen for his England side to progress to the semi-finals of Euro 2012 this evening without the need for a penalty shootout.

Standing in the way of Hodgson's men are Italy, who like England are unbeaten in the competition so far.

Many pundits have tipped the encounter to go all the way to penalties, with many feeling that both defences will be on top.

However, Hodgson has urged his players to win the encounter in normal time.

"We have given the penalties a lot of thought and have seen the statistics for all the players, but I hope we can win the game in normal time," he told BBC Sport. "There will be less stress if we do it that way."

You can follow Sports Mole's live text coverage of the match in Kiev here.