England Under-21s one win away from first European title since 1984 as Young Lions ease past Israel

England are one win away from Under-21 European Championship glory thanks to a 3-0 victory over Israel in their semi-final clash.

Goals from Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer and Cameron Archer sealed the victory to set up a date with either Spain or Ukraine in Saturday’s final.

Lee Carsley’s side spurned a glorious opportunity to take an early lead when Gibbs-White put a penalty wide after Anthony Gordon was felled in the box.

However, the Nottingham Forest man managed to put any disappointment behind him as he expertly headed England in front on 42 minutes, lobbing Israel goalkeeper Tomer Tzarfati as he got on the end of Palmer’s cross from the right.

That gave England a 1-0 lead at half time and Manchester City starlet Palmer doubled their advantage on 65 minutes, finishing from close range as he turned in Emile Smith Rowe’s cross following a VAR check.

Aston Villa youngster Archer then rounded off the win as he fired the ball into the roof of the net after being teed up by Palmer.

England are making their first appearance in the final of a major tournament since 2009 but their last triumph in the U21 European Championship came in 1984 and Carsley’s side have looked very assured in Georgia and Romania.

They began their campaign with a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, while also beating Israel and Germany by the same scoreline in their other group matches.

England then scraped to a 1-0 win over Portugal last weekend before making light work of Israel.