Sweden defender Victor Lindelof has warned England that they should expect "a difficult" task in the World Cup quarter-final between the two nations.

The teams meet in Samara on Saturday, with England having edged past Colombia in the last 16 and Sweden recording a third clean sheet in four games in their victory over Switzerland.

England are the marginal favourites to progress through to the last four, but Lindelof has said that Sweden should be taken seriously, both in terms of emerging victorious in the last eight and later in the competition.

The 23-year-old is quoted by The Mirror as saying: "We are a nation to be taken seriously. It's difficult to play against us, because we defend very well and it's hard to find spaces between the lines.

"We defend very well, with all 11 players on the pitch."

The Manchester United player missed Sweden's opening match of the tournament but has since returned to feature in their last three matches.