MERCURY TO HIT 23C AS ENGLAND FANS FLOCK TO PUBS FOR EUROS CLASH
England football fans will enjoy 23C (73F) highs in the UK today as they pack out pub gardens and fan zones for the Three Lions' crunch Euros knock-out clash against Slovakia.
Supporters will be making the most of Britain's heatwave as Gareth Southgate's men take on Slovakia in the last-16 match at 5pm, which will be shown on ITV1 with build-up from 3.30pm.
Others will stock up on beers and burgers as they whack out the barbecues ahead of the crunch tie.
England fans will be hoping the Three Lions can get back to winning ways after a disappointing 0-0 against Slovenia on Tuesday. A win would see England progress to the quarter-finals and face Switzerland, who knocked out holders Italy yesterday.
Revellers who are spending the week at Glastonbury Festival will not be able to watch the game on a big screen after organisers confirmed last month that they would not show any England games.
After a week of scorching heat and sunshine, today will be slightly cooler and cloudier - but afternoon temperatures are still expected to reach 23C (73F) in London, 22C (72F) in Southampton, 21C (70F) in Plymouth and 20C (68F) in Cardiff.
But the North will be cooler with highs of just 16C (61F) expected in Newcastle and 17C (63F) in Manchester. Glasgow will reach 17C, while Hull, Norwich and Birmingham could hit 18C (64F).
The slightly cooler temperatures may be welcomed by some Brits who have been whacking the fans on as they struggle to sleep at night.
Met Office Meteorologist Ellie Glaisyer said: 'It's been a bit of a cloudy start for some of us this morning. We've seen a band of rain sinking its way southwards and that eventually clears its way to the southeast over the next couple of hours, leaving plenty of sunny spells for the majority of the UK.
'It's Northern Ireland, western parts of Wales, and southwest England which are likely to see the best of the sunshine today.
'Feeling pleasant in that sunshine, although temperatures perhaps a touch lower than what we saw yesterday, 22C or 23C in the south and quite widely elsewhere in those mid to high teens.'
England fans will be flocking to beer gardens despite the game coming in the evening before Monday work again.
So far, England games have either fallen on Sundays or midweek, leaving many fans racing around to try and catch the games after work.
Glastonbury organisers confirmed they will not show the match on Sunday, despite broadcasting the England men's and women's World Cup quarter finals in 2010 and 2019, respectively.
England's game on Sunday is set to clash with Shania Twain, who will be finishing her set on the Pyramid Stage when the match kicks off, and Avril Lavigne on the Other Stage.
It means fans at the site on Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, could be left unaware of the score with phone signal notoriously bad at the festival that will be full of 200,000 people.
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said this week that the festival set up a screen to watch fixtures during the World Cup in 1998, but times have changed.
'We used to have a screen here as no-one had any means of finding out what even the result was because we were so cut off from the outside,' she added.
'Now obviously, everyone's connected and I think you know it's a music festival. I'm sure if people want to see it enough they can check for results or whatever on their phones.
'But hopefully I'm encouraging people to put their phones away and forget about the outside world.'
England will go into Sunday's match following an underwhelming final group game against Slovenia on Tuesday which was watched by 14.5million viewers on ITV.
The game saw Southgate's side progress to the European Championship knockout phase as Group C winners, despite being held to a 0-0 draw.
Some 14.5million people tuned in on watch on all devices, including ITV1 and ITVX, peaking at 15.4million.
An average of 9.2million viewers watched ITV's full live coverage, which ran from 6.45pm until 10.45pm, the broadcaster said.
Fans expressed frustration at England's performance after they were unable to turn their dominance into a morale-boosting victory.
But finishing as group winners resulted in the Three Lions getting a favourable draw against Slovakia who finished third in their group.
It also meant England avoided what appears to be the much tougher half of the draw for the knockout stages.
The goalless stalemate with Slovenia in Cologne on Tuesday was the continuation of England's struggles in Germany, where they have also so far drawn 1-1 with Denmark when Harry Kane scored and beat Serbia 1-0 courtesy of a Jude Bellingham header.
Fans booed England off following a dour display against the Danes and followed suit after the Slovenia result, with beer cups thrown in the direction of manager Southgate, who has since called on any of the fans' ire to be aimed at him rather than his players.
But he will have been boosted by Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and Belgium all being on the other side of the draw, meaning England will avoid that quintet until a potential final in Berlin on July 14.
Instead, Southgate's side return to Gelsenkirchen on Sunday to face Slovakia, who advanced as one of the best third-placed teams from the group stage.
Victory on Sunday would see England progress to a quarter-final against either Switzerland which would take place on Saturday, July 6 at 5pm.
It comes as Mail Sport launched its 'We're Backing England' campaign, with Sir Keir Starmer joining Rishi Sunak and England fans in the new drive to unite the nation behind the squad.
Sir Keir, who has a season ticket at Arsenal and plays five-a-side football each week, said: 'There's been too much criticism [of the team so far], get behind them, get them over the line.
'This is a really important competition. England always do a bit of this at the beginning of competitions.
'Get behind the team – it's a full squad of players who've all had fantastic seasons for their respective clubs. Just get behind the team and I support this campaign.'
Mr Sunak, a Southampton fan, said: 'I remember when we could only dream about England qualifying top of their group and being favourites in their first knockout game. And we also know that this England team tends to shine when the pressure's on.
'So I hope that, like me, the whole country will get behind Gareth and the boys when they play Slovakia on Sunday, and I'm confident they'll put on a show for us.'
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: 'Let's unite behind Gareth and the team. We have world-class players who can bring it home. Our fans in the stadiums have been amazing. Come on England!'
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