Ukraine vs England predictions: Three Lions could be limited to a point in Poland

Daniel Childs

Spotlight

Gareth Southgate's England have a perfect record in Euro 2024 qualifying to date

- Two of Ukraine's last four matches against England have been drawn
- Ukraine have avoided defeat in eight of their last 10 matches
- Recommended bet: Draw

England have done a lot of the heavy lifting in Euro 2024 qualifying and will be looking to maintain their 100 per cent record when they take on Ukraine in the Polish city of Wroclaw on Saturday.

Gareth Southgate's side have not looked back since kicking off the campaign with wins away to Italy (2-1) and at home to Ukraine (2-0), and they could seal a place at the finals by the end of October if they rack up another pair of victories.

Ukraine's push for qualification is more likely to go down to the wire and they have a big few days coming up with the contest against England preceding next Tuesday's trip to Italy.

Team news

Midfielder duo Mykola Shaparenko and Ruslan Malinovskyi have been ruled out for Ukraine due to injuries, but Oleksandr Zinchenko has shaken off a calf problem and is expected to start.

Everton left back Vitaliy Mykolenko has overcome a knock and should also take his place in the team.

England are depleted by the absence of injured quintet Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw and John Stones.

But there is still no room for Raheem Sterling despite the Chelsea attacker's strong start to the season.

Callum Wilson, Levi Colwill and Bukayo Saka have been nursing minor injuries but they are expected to be available.

The latest Ukraine vs England odds are available on LiveScore Bet

The stats

Ukraine have played four 'home' games on neutral soil since the Russian invasion and have registered two wins and two draws.

They have lost just two of their last 10 fixtures and approach the England game on a two-game winning sequence.

England have triumphed in each of their four Euro 2024 qualifiers and are on a run of three wins accompanied by clean sheets.

Six of England's last seven games have featured at least three goals although the exception was a 2-0 success at home to Ukraine.

The return to fitness of Oleksandr Zinchenko will provide Ukraine with a huge boost

Prediction

England have sailed through to the halfway stage of Euro 2024 qualification Group C with four victories in four games but their winning streak could come to an end with a draw in Wroclaw.

The Three Lions’ clash against Ukraine is their only competitive action in September but it looks like a tricky assignment given the absence of some key players.

Injuries to Luke Shaw and John Stones necessitate at least two changes to the regular back four and the loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold could be a painful one after the Liverpool man played such a starring midfield role in the June victories away to Malta (4-0) and at home to North Macedonia (7-0).

Ukraine were far from disgraced when they lost 2-0 at Wembley in March and they may sense an opportunity despite the obvious disadvantage of playing at a neutral venue.

Victories away to North Macedonia (3-2) and at home to Malta (1-0) lifted them into second place and they showed their ability to perform at a higher level when drawing 3-3 away to Germany in a summer friendly.

The Ukrainians picked up some excellent results in June without Oleksandr Zinchenko and the Arsenal man's return from injury should give them a bit of extra quality and composure in a key area of the pitch.

Ukraine are probably battling with Italy to finish second but they are capable of competing on fairly even terms with injury-hit England and look reasonable value 7/2 shots to share the spoils this weekend.

Back the draw at 7/2 with LiveScore Bet