WITH Scotland the only one of the four Home Nations not involved, Russell Martin admits that he will find it difficult to tune into the Euro 2016 finals in France in the coming weeks.

The Norwich City defender, though, will force himself to take in some of the matches as preparation for the start of the national team’s Russia 2018 qualifying campaign next season.

England and Slovakia, who Martin and his team mates will face in their Group F matches, will both be involved and the centre half believes it will be beneficial to see them in action no matter how painful the experience.

“I’m extremely envious of the guys who’ll be at the Euros,” he said. “I hope my club mates do well, but at the same time I’m jealous.

“If I’m honest I’d like to switch off from the Euros when they’re on but I know I won’t. I’m not sure I’ll watch it all. I want to because I love football but will just remind me we’re sat at home.

“Seeing the teams we came up against in qualifying will be difficult. But I’ll look at the teams we’ve got coming up in the World Cup qualifiers so from that point of view it will be useful.

“I’m not looking forward to it but it’s something I know I’ll need to do. Had we been in any other group I think we’d be there but it wasn’t to be.”

Martin played as Scotland were outplayed by Euro 2016-bound Italy in a friendly international in the Ta’ Qali Stadium here in Malta on Sunday and beaten 1-0.

England are currently ranked above the Azzurri in the FIFA world rankings and the performance and result were alarming given that Strachan’s side play Roy Hodgson's team at Wembley in a qualifier November.

However, the 30-year-old has warned against reading too much into the match at the weekend given that several first choice players were absent. He remains confident the national team will be able to compete when they travel to London.

He believes the fact that the likes of Ikechi Anya, Darren and Steven Fletcher, Grant Hanley, Alan Hutton, Shaun Maloney, James McArthur, Steven Naismith, Matt Ritchie, Andy Robertson, Robert Snodgrass and himself all play in the Premier League and Championship down south will ensure they give a good account of themselves.

Martin added: “England are a good side, but there will be a comfort there because we know these guys. A lot of the lads don’t play against the English players every week, but they’ll play a similar style of football and that will help.

“That’s why these friendlies are useful because you’re coming against teams with different styles and formations. We know most of the England lads, the culture is the same. It will be high tempo and we know how they’ll approach it.”

Martin, who was unable to prevent Norwich from being relegated out of the top flight in a disappointing 2015/16 campaign, accepted that Scotland would have to lift their performance levels to avoid a damaging defeat against France on Saturday.

Didier Deschamps’s side will be playing their final warm-up match before France host the Euro 2016 finals in front of a sell-out crowd of over 26,000 in the Stade Saint-Symphorien and will be looking to end their preparations on a high with a convincing triumph.

“It was a tough old shift against the Italians, they are a very good side,” he said. “What disappointed me was that we didn’t move the ball as well as we have done in recent games and we couldn’t really get at them. Because of that we definitely made life harder for ourselves.

“You have to appreciate that they are gearing up for the Euros and they’ll be among the favourites if you ask me. What did we take from it? It showed us where we need to try to get to and what level we’ll need to be at if we want to be among the best teams in Europe.

“They had different players, all with different qualities and it was a good test in that regard. It was extremely hard work but we’re going to be up against that if we want to qualify for the World Cup.

“That’s the biggest thing we took from the game, that and the fact we stuck at it. Maybe in seasons gone by it could have been a much worse result. The quality wasn’t what it should be but we move on to France now.”

Martin added: “They’ll want to head into the Euros with a bang so we’ll need to raise it significantly,” he said. “It’s their final game before the Euros but it’s not something to fear. It’s something to be excited about and look forward to.

“We want to end the season on a high, you don’t want to go into the summer on the back of a bad performance and a bad results so we are conscious of that. We have to mindful of that and come away with a bit of pride.

“They’ll be at it, but it’s nothing to worry about. It will be the kind of atmosphere we’re going to miss out on this summer so hopefully it can whet our appetite for what lies ahead. It’s hard being a warm up act, but we want to give them something to think about.”