The second match of the Euro 2020 action on Monday afternoon sees the Group E opener being played out when Poland look to get off to a promising start when they go up against Slovakia out in St Petersburg.
These two sides will be well aware that Spain are lingering later in the group so a positive result here is a must if they want to make it out of this stage. That might create a bit of nerves and tension so it will be interesting to see who handles that the best.
Where to watch
We are over on ITV1 for this match in the UK on Monday afternoon. The lead up to the game starts at 4.15pm with the match itself kicking off at 5pm.
Poland
Poland made the quarter finals of the last European Championships but they weren’t as convincing as they might have been in that tournament and then followed that up with a disaster run at the World Cup in Russia, so there are one or two question marks about their tournament credentials. They will hope to silence their doubters here and there is no doubt they have the personnel to do so, but individual quality wasn’t the issue in the past it has been a mental thing.
There is also a concern that this tournament comes a little too soon in the Paulo Sousa reign for Poland to be at their best. He is trying to change their style to bring their attacking players into play a lot more and in turn make them more successful. They are also trying to transition to a team who controls the ball throughout and we’ve seen in this tournament that such a style has been very effective thus far which could be significant.
Slovakia
They might not be the prettiest watch in the world but you have to give Slovakia a fair amount of credit for qualifying for this tournament twice in a row. Admittedly the expansion to 24 teams has helped with that quest but you still have to come through some pressure matches and they have done that twice. That will bring confidence even though there is a sense that they play a little too conservatively to be a force in these events.
If Slovakia are going to be successful in this tournament then you would think it will be courtesy of a strong defensive structure and looking to take their chances on set-pieces. There is still a place in the game for that but in these conditions it is going to be a tough ask to be strong with that style, especially later in the group when they play a couple of sides who are very comfortable with the ball. They might be happy to be hard to beat though as three draws will be enough to progress.
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Team News
Paulo Sousa has plenty of attacking options at his disposal and it is likely to be Arkadiusz Milik who will be given the role alongside Robert Lewandowski in attack. Former Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny is expected to be in goal.
Slovakia have reported no new injury problems so Marek Hamsik is going to be their leading light but perhaps more important will be Inter defender Milan Skriniar. He will be assigned the task of keeping tabs on Lewandowski.
Betting
It is hard to see anything but a tight clash here. The natural instincts in both is to be a little defensive, more than a little in the case of Slovakia, and often when there is a group with a powerhouse in it the other teams are more determined not to lose than brave enough to go out and win the game so it will be interesting to see how this one plays out. In saying all that, I look at this Poland side and they just look a degree stronger than their opponents.
This doesn’t feel like the kind of match to be betting an odds on shot so I’m going to go after a little more value to be more comfortable with a bet on the game. I think if there is a winner it will be Poland but there is no scenario where I can see this being a high scoring game, even allowing for the energy zapping conditions, although even they are lessened with this being an 8pm start local time. I’ll side with Poland to win but for there to be less than 3.5 goals.
Tips
Back Poland to win and under 3.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Boylesports
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