The Three Lions are coming to town.

After being drawn in the same group as Italy in the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016 qualifiers, Malta will now meet England in the qualifying trek for the 2018 World Cup, to be staged in Russia.

Group F promises to be one of the most intriguing as yesterday’s draw, held in St Petersburg, also revived the Battle of Britain between England and rivals Scotland.

The other nations in Group F are Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania.

Malta coach Pietro Ghedin, who was present for yesterday’s ceremony along with Bjorn Vassallo, the MFA general secretary, and Ivan Vella, the national teams manager, was thrilled by the draw.

The MFA delegation at yesterday’s draw (from left) Ivan Vella, the national teams manager, Bjorn Vassallo, MFA general secretary, and coach Pietro Ghedin.

“England are one of the strongest footballing nations in the world and I’m sure our home game against them will be a massive event,” Ghedin told The Sunday Times of Malta.

“I believe this is a nice thing for Maltese football.

“The matches will be very tough for us as England have done exceptionally well over the past year but we are also improving.

“As for the group, it’s certainly a very difficult one as England and Slovakia are leading their Euro 2016 qualifying pools and Scotland, Slovenia and Lithuania are also strong.

“As always, we will be doing our utmost to give a good account of ourselves.”

Malta last met England in a friendly in June 2000, losing 2-1 at the National Stadium.

The first two matches were in the 1971 European Championship which England won 1-0 (in Malta) and 5-0 (Wembley).

Ghedin is likely to take heart from Malta’s showings in the recent friendlies against Group F opponents Slovakia and Lithuania.

In September last year, Malta suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Slovakia in a warm-up game ahead of their opening Euro 2016 qualifier against Croatia and, last month, they beat Lithuania 2-0 in a game that will be remembered for Alfred Effiong’s stunning goal.

Vassallo, the MFA general secretary, said the prospect of playing against another footballing heavyweight like England will strengthen the association’s motivation to keep investing in local football.

“The draw was positive for us, also in light of the important changes in the seedings due to the nations’ co-efficients,” Vassallo said.

“There were a host of big teams, including Italy, who were not in pot one, and that increased the risk of not getting a glamorous team in our group.

“I think the Maltese football followers had high expectations after being drawn in the same group as Italy in the last two competitions. They wanted us to play against another top side, like England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, and we got England.

“The prospect of playing against another great footballing nation like England gives us added motivation to keep investing in our football, most importantly our players and the facilities.”

The indications are that the Malta FA are willing to keep Ghedin beyond his current deal, which expires in December, after president Norman Darmanin Demajo intimated recently that he was in favour of offering the Italian a new contract.

Vassallo was non-committal.

“The president only expressed his personal opinion,” he replied when asked about Ghedin’s future.

“Discussions within the MFA have not started yet. Results under Ghedin have been satisfactory but talks on the national coach will begin after the end of our Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in October.”

Gary Neville, the former Manchester United defender who is now assistant to England manager Roy Hodgson, took to Twitter to express his delight.

“England drawn Malta in 2018 WCQ. Brilliant,” Neville, who has close connections with our country, tweeted.

The main talking point after yesterday’s draw was England and Scotland being drawn to play a World Cup match for the first time, although the home nations championship did act as a qualifying competition for the 1950 and 1954 World Cups.

Hodgson said of the Scotland games: “We have had two very highly competitive friendlies against Scotland over the last year.

“For the mass media that’s the fixture that is going to capture the imagination. England vs Scotland fixtures go back a long, long way in history and there has been many a fierce encounter along the way.

“Slovenia are a good team as are Slovakia, Lithuania and Malta are experienced at this level so I think it will be a competitive group.”

The 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign is expected to begin in September 2016.