European Championships 2020
Friday 18th June 2021
Kick off at 8pm BST
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Match Preview:
The 115th game between England and Scotland will take place on Friday as the two nations take on each other at Wembley Stadium in the Euro 2020 group stages. With fans present it will be quite an occasion and one is instantly reminded of Euro 96 when the two teams met here in the very same stadium 25 years ago. On that occasion England won 2-0 which included an infamous goal by Paul Gascoigne and fans of England will be hoping that this current team can conjure up that kind of spirit.
England’s first group game ended in a 1-0 victory over Croatia and in turn Gareth Southgate’s side made history as that was the first time an England side had won their first match of a European Championships campaign. The game against the 2018 World Cup finalists was never going to be easy but England were deserved winners in the end through a goal by Raheem Sterling. This was an assured and confident display which included break out performances from Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips in midfield, Kieran Trippier looked solid in defence and Phil Foden showed some of his brilliance too, hitting the post early on.
Croatia were able to control the pace of the game at times but Southgate rightly pointed out that the heat and the kick off time of 2 pm played its part. At least this match is an evening game. England come into this match with very high hopes and victory would assure their qualification for the knock out stages.
Scotland are under real pressure as they lost their first game of the campaign 2-0 against Czech Republic. In short they must get something from this game though would have faint hopes in their final match against Croatia, but even a draw here could keep their hopes alive. Against Czech Republic, Scotland did start well, and had a few chances to score, they were not poor but were undone by two superb goals in the end. The defeat was jarring though and it happened at home.
Team News:
England: Harry Maguire has declared himself fit after having to miss the first game. Jordan Henderson is expected to miss this match after not recovering from injury to take part in the opening game also.
Scotland: Kieran Tierney will be assessed but after missing out on the teams opening game he is touch and go here and may miss out again.
England vs Scotland Head to Head:
The last time the nations played was back in 2017 for qualification for the World Cup in Russia and the game ended 2-2.
The last time England were at home was in 2016 and they won 3-0.
Scotland have only won once in the last 11 meetings and that was back in 1999.
The last 4 meetings in a row have all produced over 2.5 goals.
England vs Scotland Prediction:
Gareth Southgate has an embarrassment of riches to pull from when he looks at his squad. He will feel that the England side he put out against Croatia did a fine job and could do the same here. The headache that he has is the talent just wanting to come on the field and play. That is headed by Jack Grealish who is sure to get game time, but then again who do you not play? Then there is Jadon Sancho, and Jude Bellingham may start from the bench again but will it be another player desperate to get more playing time. Raheem Sterling was seen as a slight risk to start, but he scored and now justifies his position. Harry Kane will fancy his chances to score in this game too. There is a lot for Southgate to contemplate but at the end of the day this looks like an exciting England team and it is good to have these worries.
For Scotland this is the derby like game, the love/hate relationship against the old enemy and passions will be running high. But they will most likely struggle here and have to give up possession for large periods in the game. We only see one winner but Scotland will have their chances. But England should have enough in defence to keep things relatively quiet there and England should expect a good performance and a few goals to boot. There is a clear gap in quality and that is the bottom line. Scotland are being quoted at odds of 10.00 to win this game against England at 1.30 that should tell you everything you need to know.
England vs Scotland Betting Tips:
Half Time/Full Time: England/England at 1.91
Anytime goalscorer: Harry Kane of England at 1.72
Correct Score: England to win 2-0 or 3-0 at 6.00 and 8.50
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