12' Lingard! That's a nice save from Benedettini to deny the Hammers loanee, who unloads an effort from middle distance only for the keeper to make an acrobatic leap to push it away. Mount sees a short pass blocked from the corner for a second set-piece.
11' England have won their opening match in their last seven qualifying campaigns for major tournaments, by an aggregate score of 24-0, since drawing 2-2 with Austria in their opening qualifier for the 2006 World Cup. So, no pressure here.
9' Now Calvert-Lewin and Sterling fall over each other rising for a Mount cut-back, with the Manchester City man taking a knock to the back for his troubles. That's three plum chances that England probably should have seized now, but you could argue they're still warming up.
8' England are playing so high up the park on the wings, Phillips seems to have sunk back into the defensive line by default. Lingard guides a towering ball into the penalty area and Sterling flashes his header wide to the left.
6' Calvert-Lewin! The best chance of the game yet comes the way of the Everton man and it is on a plate, squared into the six-yard area by James. He can't connect cleanly though and the ball pings away to relative safety.
5' There's a cross from Mount now that's overhit, before James is flagged for offside going forward on the right but there has hardly been anything inside England's half so far. The pattern of this game is already set.
3' Mount taps on a neat ball for Sterling to chase with the first serious attack of the game and Benedettini does well to sweep out and collect cleanly before the forward gets there near the six-yard area.
2' The remit for the Three Lions today is fairly simple; make this a routine win with no injuries and perhaps provide their manager with a few selection headaches. A lot of the starting faces today aren't the logical picks to be in the XI against Croatia in June, but now is the time to impress.
1' We are underway in this 2022 World Cup qualifier between England and San Marino!
The national anthems have concluded and we're moments away from kick-off. There will be a moment of reflection first for a host of late England players and coaches; Glenn Roeder, Frank Worthington, Colin Bell and Peter Swan.
A personal milestone too for Southgate today; this is his 50th game in charge of England. He's the seventh to do so: Walter Winterbottom, Alf Ramsey, Ron Greenwood, Bobby Robson, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Roy Hodgson are the others.
The teams are emerging at Wembley Stadium now, beneath the towering arc. Raheem Sterling has taken the captain's armband, with Kane on the bench to begin with.
Looking back, there's just the one player who started last time out for the Three Lions too, and to nobody's surprise, it's Mount. The Chelsea man is a favourite of the international manager - and he's mostly repaid that faith so far too.
Southgate has made no secret of the fact he hopes to use the March international break - the last nailed-on matches for his side before what looks like a tricky Euro 2020 campaign - to see what works and what doesn't. Don't be too surprised if Johnstone, the West Brom keeper, gets on at half-time.
But it is Watkins who is the most curious. The Aston Villa man edged out Leeds United's Patrick Bamford for the spot, despite the latter's superior haul and stats sheet this season; his youth and livewire skill is what gave him the edge. He deserves his place - but spare a thought for the man he beat to it.
Lingard too has staked his claim well and made no secret of Southgate's own influence in his return to form. While Stones has battled his way back into the reckoning for league leaders Manchester City, the Manchester United man's loan move to West Ham has left him a rejuvenated presence.
It's hard to quibble with the return of Stones to the England fold; he's not played for the Three Lions since a November 2019 drubbing of Montenegro. The only other players in the starting side that night to repeat here are Chilwell and Mount.
This is an England squad of course without a host of key faces; those listed as injured in action include regular goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and recent creative dynamo Jack Grealish, with James Maddison, Tammy Abraham, Danny Ings, Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes all also missing. But that has opened the door for a few strangers.
Subs: Michael Battistini, Simone Benedettini, Mattia Giardi, Luca Ceccaroli, Marcello Mularoni, Giacomo Conti, Kevin Zonzini, Filippo Fabbri, Tommaso Zafferani, Alex Stimac, Luca Nanni, Alessandro D'Addario.
SAN MARINO (4-2-3-1): Elia Benedettini; Manuel Battistini, Cristian Brolli, Dante Rossi, Andrea Grandoni; Lorenzo Lunadei, Enrico Golinucci; Adolfo Hirsch, Filippo Berardi, Mirko Palazzi; Nicola Nanni.
Subs: Harry Kane, Dean Henderson, Eric Dier, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, Kieran Trippier, Declan Rice, Phil Foden, Harry Maguire, Ollie Watkins, Sam Johnstone, Jude Bellingham.
ENGLAND (4-2-3-1): Nick Pope; Reece James, Conor Coady, John Stones, Ben Chilwell, Kalvin Phillips, James Ward-Prowse; Jesse Lingard, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling; Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Just over half-a-dozen faces hail from Italy but otherwise San Marino's squad consists entirely of domestic talent. Filippo Berardi - the last man to score for the country, in late 2019 - starts just behind Nicola Nanni in the nominal lone striker position, while Alex Stimac, Luca Nanni and Filippo Fabbri could all win maiden caps off the bench.
For England then, it is the most inexperienced starting XI at Wembley since 1983 in terms of combined caps, with just 170. The headlines are the return of John Stones and Jesse Lingard to the set-up after a post-Russia exodus; first-time call-ups Sam Johnstone and Ollie Watkins sit on the bench alongside Harry Kane.
Yet there has arguably been progress for Franco Varrella's minnows over the past year; 2020 was their most successful competitive period ever, snagging two goalless draws with Liechtenstein and Gibraltar in the Nations League. For the microstate, that is a not-insignificant step.
For Gareth Southgate's hosts, there could be no easier first encounter out of the gate. In six previous meetings stretching back to 1993, England has netted a total haul of 37 goals and conceded just the one. This is effectively a free hit out ahead of Euro 2020 for the manager to experiment with some new faces - and a few old ones two.
It's fourth in the world versus last around the globe; the Three Lions against the whipping boys of international football. The road to the Middle East starts here - and for some, it will be a much shorter journey than others.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup UEFA qualifiers, as England look to get their campaign off to a flawless start against San Marino in Group I at Wembley Stadium.
