Cast your mind back to the evening of Sunday, 30th June when England were on the verge of being knocked out of Euro24 by Slovakia, when a Jude Bellingham goal deep into injury time saved the day.
That was the moment everything seemed to change; it was as if a switch had been flicked, and the England players started to perform to the levels that we expected of them at the beginning of the tournament.
As for Spain, they have been impressive from day one, playing with a style and flair, which makes every football supporter want to tune in and watch them perform, especially the 16-year-old Lamine Yamal who must be a nailed-on certainty for the Player of the Tournament trophy.
Odds and Predictions
Spain are the favourites for this match at odds of 2.37, England are priced up at 3.50 and the odds for the draw are 2.87.
We can’t argue with those odds, even though Spain went behind to an early goal against France, they never looked in any trouble and the wonder goal by Lamine Yamal underlined the confidence that runs through this Spanish side.
England has grown into this tournament, and that injury-time goal by Ollie Watkins against the Netherlands released a flood of emotions throughout the country.
For the first time since 1966, could football be coming home?
We believe it will, so we have no hesitation in backing England to win at odds of 3.50 for the first of our tips and a scoreline of 1 – 2 which is priced up at 13.0.
Ollie Watkins was awarded Man of the Match against the Netherlands, but we believe that award should have gone to Phil Foden, who was outstanding.
He came close to scoring a couple of times, so for the last of our predictions, we are going to back him in the ‘To score at any time’ market at odds of 5.0.
That is a great price as we thought it would be around 3.0.
Comparison and Statistics from Past Meetings between the Teams
Spain and England have played each other head-to-head a total of twenty seven times, England has won thirteen of these matches, Spain has won ten and four matches have ended in a draw.
The last five H2H matches between the two teams are listed below.
| Past Meetings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Oct 2018 | spain | 2-3 | england | UEFA Nations League |
| 08 Sep 2018 | england | 1-2 | spain | UEFA Nations League |
| 15 Nov 2016 | england | 2-2 | spain | Friendly Game |
| 13 Nov 2015 | spain | 2-0 | england | Friendly Game |
| 12 Nov 2011 | england | 2-0 | spain | Friendly Game |
Expected Line Ups
Spain will be hoping Álvaro Morata will recover from the bizarre injury caused by one of the Spanish security team who slid into the player when trying to remove a pitch invader.
For England, the big question has to be whether Luke Shaw will start the match or come off the bench as he has done in the previous two matches.
Spain (4-2-3-1): Unai Simón; Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Rodri, Fabián Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams; Álvaro Morata, Mikel Oyarzabal.
England (3-4-2-1): Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guéhi; Bukayo Saka, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw; Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden; Harry Kane.
How Far Will These Teams Progress in the Tournament?
Everyone has their own thoughts on how this match should be played from an England point of view, but most will agree that if Rhodri is given space in the middle of the park, he will control the match for Spain.
Gareth Southgate will no doubt have plans to keep Rhodri quiet, so as already mentioned in our predictions, we can see England winning this match and lifting the Euro2024 trophy.
It would be the first time England have won a football tournament on foreign soil.
Let’s see what happens on Sunday evening, but one thing is for sure: what a brilliant tournament this has been for everyone who loves the beautiful game.
