England set for more tough conditions as they head to sweltering Samara

  /  autty

After mild Moscow in the round of 16, England's heroes will have to step it up a notch in sweltering Samara for their World Cup quarter-final against Sweden.

Gareth Southgate's side are heading back to their Repino base for the next few days, before a two-and-a-half hour flight south-east for their next knockout game on Saturday.

Following a relatively cool 18 degrees for their round of 16 win over Colombia, the conditions will be noticeably tougher in the last eight stage of the competition.

Samara this week recorded its hottest temperature for 50 years, an incredible 38 degrees as Brazil took on Mexico on Monday afternoon.

Although it has cooled down slightly now, the weather is still expected to be touching the 30 degree-mark on Saturday - making it 12 degrees hotter than England experienced in their last match.

It will not be the first Three Lions game played in difficult conditions though, after a swarm of insects disrupted the win over Tunisia in Volgograd.

It was revealed that helicopters had even sprayed the stadium with insecticide to minimise the impact of the pests, but they were still present during the group game.

Against Tunisia, Nizhny Novgorod was extremely hot, with the mercury tipping the 30 degree mark.

Officials decided not to stop the game for water breaks, and it is expected to be a similar situation for the match on Saturday too.

Samara has already held five matches in the tournament, and England vs Sweden will be the sixth and final game at the Arena.

The stadium enjoyed its first game between Costa Rica and Serbia, while Denmark, Australia, Uruguay, Russia, Senegal and Colombia have all played in the Samara heat.

Thunderstorms have been forecast on Sunday, which may clear the humidity, but that will not come early enough for the Three Lions who play early evening on Saturday.

There may be the slight respite of some cloud cover, but temperatures between 28 and 30 degrees will certainly be felt by the players.

Related: England Sweden
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