It has been a rocky road for England in Euro2016 so far but they go into their final group match against Slovakia in Saint-Etienne knowing that if they win the game they will win the group and set up a nice path to the semi-final.
Slovakia know the same thing. If they win here and the other match in the group doesn’t result in a win for Wales then it will be the Slovakians heading into the last 16 as the winners of Group B and getting what looks a nice draw.
Slovakia have impressed in the main in this group but they only have three points to show for their efforts. They should really have got something from their match against Wales but despite dominating for large periods they were beaten late on but they managed to bounce back and get a much needed win against Russia to set up what is almost a group decider here.
The Slovakians have looked quite weak defensively in this tournament but when they have attacked they have done it in numbers and looked quite dangerous. The win over Russia will have given them plenty of belief to go on and make it back to back wins here.
Key Man
Marek Hamsik showed all of his quality against Russia with what turned out to be the winning goal being one of the best in the tournament so far. He is someone who always wants the ball and who can dictate play and if England are to win this they will need to keep the Napoli man as quiet as they can.
For three of the four halves England have played in this tournament England have looked very good indeed. The one half they didn’t was the first half against Wales but even then they blew two wonderful scoring opportunities to make the afternoon a whole lot easier than it eventually became.
Going into the tournament the positivity behind England centred around the fact that they had plenty of attacking options and we saw that against Wales with Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy both scoring after coming off the bench while Marcus Rashford made a significant contribution in the game too.
Key Man
All eyes will be on Jamie Vardy here to see if the Leicester forward can continue his fairy-tale story and find the back of the net again. He has scored in every other situation he has found himself in recently and his goal against Wales was vital to the overall result. There should be space in behind this Slovakian defence and that is when Vardy really shines.
Team News
Slovakia aren’t expected to make any changes to the side which beat Russia on Wednesday. They have had an extra 24hrs to get over any knocks and things which will have helped but with a number of players on yellow cards they can’t afford too many bookings here.
England are expected to make half a dozen changes to their side for this match with Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane among those expected to make way. Whether that is to give game time to those who need it or just to change things around tactically remains to be seen. Sturridge and Vardy are set to start as is Jack Wilshere.
Head to Head
These two sides have met three times in the past and England have won all three. The first two matches came in qualifying for Euro2004 and then most recently England played them in a friendly back in 2009 when they won 4-0. This is a much better Slovakia side than any of those were though.
Betting
This should be a good game because it is so finely poised that with each goal that goes in the dynamic of the whole match changes completely and that should lead to plenty of attacking and hopefully from a neutral point of view plenty of goals too.
England have history with this ground that they will be looking to level out. This is where they faced Argentina in that famous World Cup last 16 match in 1998 when David Beckham was sent off and England lost on penalties after Michael Owen had scored that iconic goal.
None of that team are in the side here obviously but there is a ghost to rest. I fancy England will win and put the past behind them but at odds on I’m less sure if there is any value especially as a draw is all England need to guarantee qualification in the top two and possibly even win the group.
I prefer to back both teams to score here. The scenario is there for both needing to score. If England score first them Slovakia have to come out and try to level it up as their three points wouldn’t be enough to qualify and if Slovakia score first England will need to goal to get back above them.
We’ve seen in the tournament to date that despite little threat on their goal England still can’t keep clean sheets but we’ve also seen them score against the other two sides in the group too. I expect both sides to score here before this one is done. It’s just what England do and how their games go.
Tips
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