Martin Johnson's side launched their latest Championship campaign with a hard-fought 26-19 victory over Wales at the Millennium Stadium last Friday - their first victory in the Welsh capital since 2003. That rare success leaves England well placed for a strong title challenge, with the Azzurri clash the first of three successive home games.

London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero will make his Test debut in England's Six Nations meeting with Italy tomorrow after Andrew Sheridan was ruled out with a back injury.

Sheridan reported soreness after training yesterday and the final decision to pull him out was made by England's medical team this morning. Corbisiero, 23, played for the Saxons over the last two weekends and trained with the senior squad this week.

England's young front row will face a tough examination up front

England swept Italy aside on their last visit to Twickenham - thanks largely to the selection shocker that saw world-class flanker Mauro Bergamasco deployed at scrum-half - but the days of outclassing the Azzurri are long gone. Nick Mallett's side held England to a seven-point win in Rome last year and they also came agonisingly close to a historic victory over Ireland last Saturday before slipping to a, arguably undeserving, 13-11 defeat. Putting things right after the disappointment in Rome will be top of the agenda for Nick Mallett’s men.

England will look to cement their strong start to this year's Six Nations against Italy at Twickenham on Saturday. Whilst results haven’t always gone their way in the past year, England are without a doubt on an upwards trajectory. Game management, tactical awareness, leadership and finishing have all improved over the past calendar year. The injection of youth, and form of some of England’s older heads have combined with a settled selection policy, solid setpiece and decent defence to create a team that are growing in confidence and seemingly form as time goes on.

England will know that last weekend’s victory at the Millenium Stadium will count for nothing if they lose against Italy on Saturday, but with Johnson at the helm, complacency is unlikely to feature in the players’ heads and England should emerge victorious on Saturday.

Ben Foden will look to get his hands on the ball more this weekend

England – Player to Watch: Ben Youngs: After a mature controlled display by the Leicester scrum-half against Wales, Youngs will look to up the tempo of the match and bring his backline into the game far more than last weekend. His awareness of space and opportunity will be key to England’s attacking game, as the home side will continue to keep the ball in hand.

Italy – Player to Watch: Sergio Parisse: The Stade Francais number 8 has shaken off a hand injury and will take his place in the Italy starting XV. Whilst he made a few mistakes against Ireland, Parisse's positional play, flair with ball in hand and strength for getting across the gainline have marked him as one of the best players in the world.

England – Team news: Martin Johnson’s policy on consistency of selection continues as he originally named an unchanged starting XV from the one that defeated Wales. A back injury to Andy Sheridan however has forced a late change and paved the way for uncapped Alex Corbisiero to start against veteran tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni.

Italy – Team news: Brive fly-half Luciano Orquera is handed the No.10 shirt in favour of Kris Burton and whilst Pablo Canavosio was due to take over from the injured Edoardo Gori at scrum-half, he instead drops to the bench after complaints of ‘general fatigue’, with uncapped Fabio Semenzato starting.  Elsewhere, Valerio Bernabo comes in at blindside flanker for the injured Josh Sole while South African-born lock Carlo Del Fava gets the nod in favour of Santiago Dellape.

Key Battle: As always with Italy, their pack is where their strength lies and whilst their backline came into the game more than usual against Ireland, Italy will look to put heavy pressure on the England pack and try and put them on the backfoot. England play one of the youngest front rows in their history, and the battle at the scrum will be fascinating.

Stats: England's average winning margin against Italy in the Six Nations is 28 points. They have never lost to Italy and have recorded 11 straight victories over the Azzurri in the Championship.

Prediction: If England have serious title and eventually world cup aspirations then they will look to make a big statement on Saturday. Whilst Italy make life difficult for every team they face, England’s new-found dynamism in the forwards, coupled with their excellent half back pairing and world-class back three should be too much for Italy. Another prediction, Mark Cueto to finally and deservedly bring his try-scoring drought to an end, you heard it here first.

Tom Palmer, outstanding against Wales will look to continue his impressive run of form

The teams:

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Valerio Bernabo, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Garcia.

Date: Saturday, February 12
Kick-off: 14:30
Venue: Twickenham
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)