England National Football Team

Manager / Gareth Southgate
Appointed / November 2016
Captain / Harry Kane
Top Scorer in Euro 2020 Qualifiers / Harry Kane, 12
Top Scorer in Squad (Domestic season 2020-21) / Harry Kane, 23 (Tottenham Hotspur, English Premiership)
Most Carded in qualifying / Jordan Henderson, 3
Group / D, vs. Croatia (14/06/2021), vs. Scotland (19/06/2021), vs. Czech Republic (23/06/2021)

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *

England Road to Euro 2020

England are joint-favourites with many bookmakers to lift the European Championships this summer and given the pool of talent they have within their squad it is hardly surprising. Gareth Southgate led England to the semi-finals of the World cup in 2018 with a squad far less talented than he has at his disposal now and anything less than matching their performance in Russia will be seen as a disappointment by the England faithful.

As they so often do they qualified for a major tournament with minimum fuss winning seven of their eight Group A games, scoring 37 and conceding just 6. This is nothing new for the Three Lions who barring their failure to qualify for Euro 2008 almost always cruise through the qualification rounds.

Nations League form has been a little underwhelming. They only managed to finish 3^rd in Group A behind both Belgium and Denmark winning just three of their six group games as they failed to qualify for the finals.

Form in general has been relatively consistent but a worry for Southgate will be their struggles in the Nations League when they play against higher-ranked sides. Defeats against Belgium and Denmark last year showed there are still problems that need to be ironed out prior to the Euros.

The Three Lions have been placed in Group D and drawn alongside Croatia and the Czech Republic, two teams who have managed to get the better of them in recent years and England must prove they have learnt lessons from previous major tournament defeats if they are to finally win some silverware.

England Euro 2020 Squad

As briefly touched upon earlier, Southgate has a stellar squad at his disposal absolutely stacked with talent particularly in attacking areas. It is widely accepted in the English media that this is the most talented group of players that England have produced in the past 15-20 years. They aren’t quite as impressive in other areas of the pitch with the goalkeeping position and central midfield situation in particular still very much up for debate.

Goalkeeper

Pickford’s starting place has been questioned and the Everton goalkeeper missed the March internationals through injury, but Nick Pope’s struggles in possession while filling in for him showed why his ability on the ball is valued highly by Southgate. He isn’t the best keeper in the world by any means and will certainly be considered a weakness by opposition managers when they face England. The other option is of course Dean Henderson who has broken through as Manchester United number 1 in recent months. He will probably be the main challenger for Pickford but he remains a little error-prone as he showed recently in the defeat to Liverpool.

Defence

Unsure yet as to whether Southgate will opt for 5 or 4 at the back but given he is a relatively conservative manager it will likely be 5. Maguire and Stones are definite starters with Maguire quietly excellent for Manchester United this season after recovering from a traumatic start to the campaign. A knee ligament injury is a worry but, even if he needs time, Southgate will surely risk him. The fullback battle is an interesting one with Chilwell and Shaw both in excellent form on the left hand side. For me Shaw is now slight favourite with him enjoying the best form of his career at United, Shaw has fought his way back into the international fold and will provide serious competition to Chilwell for the starting left-back spot. James, Trippier or Walker on the other side which is another fantastic battle. Walker will likely be favorite due to his experience and he quietly enjoyed a fantastic campaign at City. Trent is no longer in contention having picked up an unfortunate quadricep injury in the warm-up game against Austria recently. 

Midfield

An area of concern is who partners Declan Rice in the middle of the park. Jordan Henderson underwent groin surgery in February and has not played for Liverpool since. Effectively England’s vice-captain, Southgate will give him every chance to prove he is ready. However he has barely played this calendar year and to throw him in from the start in the group stages is a big risk. All three of the March internationals, which suggested that he is a key part of Southgate’s vision for the summer. I am personally not hugely convinced and feel he could quite easily be overrun. Bellingham would be the brave call which Southgate will likely avoid despite the 17 year old being undoubtedly the most talented partner for Rice. He forced everyone back at home to sit up and take notice with his performances in the Champions League. Not 18 until next month, Bellingham may already be England’s most well-rounded option in midfield and is becoming increasingly hard to overlook.

Attack

Led by Harry Kane, the golden boot winner in 2018 England for me have arguably the most impressive attacking talent in the entire tournament. Kane is not only top of the Premier League’s scoring charts but has registered the most assists too and is without doubt one of the top players in world football. When you add in to the mix Grealish, Sterling, Mount, Sancho, Rashford and Phil Foden you have attacking players of the highest quality. Apart from Kane no one is a guaranteed starter but for me you can’t overlook both Foden and Mount to start either side of him based on club form. Foden is the most exciting young English player of his generation and the fact he starts weekly for a side managed by Pep Guardiola tells you all you need to know- the guy is special. Mount isn’t quite as technical but his work off the ball is exceptional and he continues to improve on an almost weekly basis. He has silenced his critics with eye-catching performances for club and country, impressing on Chelsea’s route to winning the Champions League. Southgate has never doubted his quality and for me he starts in the opening game.

England Predicted Line-up vs. Croatia: Pickford; Walker, Maguire, Stones, Shaw; Rice, Henderson, Mount; Sterling, Foden, Kane (4-3-3)

England Euro 2020 Betting Tips & Predictions

As much as it pains me to say I expect England to do well this summer, their team just has too much quality and despite not being Southgate’s biggest fan I think even I could lead this team to the latter stages of the tournament.

Kane top scorer and England to win the Euros as 18.0 looks exceptional value. If England are to win the tournament then Kane has to score and he has already proven he can succeed on the biggest stage having won the golden boot in Russia back in 2018. Of a similar ilk I quite like the look of England to be top scorers in the tournament. In my opinion only France has a squad that matches England’s from an attacking sense and a 6.0 it looks quite an attractive and fun selection.

With Kane the captain and bound to start every game and play pretty much every minute he is more than likely going to be top scorer for the three lions. He will be on penalties and potentially on freekicks too. He has recently been crowned Premier league golden boot winner and is the only real natural scorer within the England camp. He was top scorer in the 2018 World Cup as well as top scorer in the qualifying for the European Championships! Kane to be England’s top scorer at 1.8 looks good value.

Predicted stage of elimination: Losing finalists

How to watch England v Scotland in Euro 2020

📅   When / Friday, 18 June 2021, 20:00 BST
🏟   Where / Wembley Stadium (London)
📺   TV / ITV, STV, ZDF
📱   Online streaming / bet365