After what can only be described as a lacklustre start to Euro24, England have managed to land themselves what many people are describing as an ‘easy game’ in the round of 16 matches.
Due to Georgia’s shock win against Portugal, England avoided the Netherlands in the first of the knockout matches, but if anyone thinks that Slovakia are going to ‘roll over’ in order to allow England to progress in the tournament, they will be in for a huge shock.
Slovakia finished in third place in Group E behind Romania and Belgium but only on goal difference and the fact that they beat Belgium in their opening match should tell you all you need to know.
Odds and Predictions
Let’s put England’s poor start to one side for a minute, all it takes is a quick look at the players in the England team to conclude that they really should win this match.
Also, if they do win, the sentiment of the country completely changes, from constant criticism to ‘we could actually win this competition’
It is also worth noting that France, the Netherlands and Belgium are also receiving a great deal of negativity from their fans and media, so it is not only the England camp who are having to develop thick skin at the moment.
The bookies have priced England up as the overwhelming favourites at odds of 1.42, Slovakia are 8.5 and the price for the draw is 4.33.
Despite everything, we have got to go for the England win for the first one of our predictions, with a scoreline of 2 – 0 at odds of 6.0.
We don’t think it will be a comfortable win so for the last of our tips we are looking at the ‘Half time/Full time’ market for the match to be a draw at half time and England to win in the second half.
The odds of 4.0 are certainly not generous but we are prepared to take them.
Comparison and Statistics from Past Meetings Between the Teams
England and Slovakia have played each other head to head six times in their history with England winning five of these matches, and one match ending in a draw.
Slovakia habe not won any matches against England so at least the stats are on our side.
The last five H2H matches between the two teams are listed below.
| Past Meetings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 Sep 2017 | england | 2-1 | slovakia | FIFA World Cup qualifier |
| 04 Sep 2016 | slovakia | 0-1 | england | FIFA World Cup qualifier |
| 20 Jun 2016 | slovakia | 0-0 | england | UEFA European Championship |
| 28 Mar 2009 | england | 4-0 | slovakia | Friendly Game |
| 11 Jun 2003 | england | 2-1 | slovakia | UEFA European Championship |
Expected Line Ups
The UK media have been at it again with their dramatic headlines saying that Phil Foden has urgently flown back to England because of ‘family matters’, turns out his wife is about to give birth to their third child, how inconsiderate! (joking).
England fans are hoping Luke Shaw will be fit enough to start and that Gareth Southgate will consider starting Cole Palmer, don’t you agree that he looked superb when he came on after 71 minutes against Slovenia.
England (4-3-3): Jordan Pickford; Kieran Trippier, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Ben Chilwell; Declan Rice, Conor Gallagher, Jude Bellingham; Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane, Phil Foden
Slovakia (4-3-3): Martin Dúbravka; Peter Pekarík, Milan Škriniar, Denis Vavro, Dávid Hancko; Juraj Kucka, Stanislav Lobotka, Ondrej Duda; Ivan Schranz, Dávid Strelec, Lukáš Haraslín
How Far Will These Teams Progress in the Tournament?
We believe that England will beat Slovakia and it has to be said, if we do, the road to the final looks like it could be kind to us, as we wouldn’t be facing the likes of Spain, Portugal or Germany.
Bear in mind though, this is England we are talking about so nothing will be as straightforward as we would like it to be.
