Serbia vs England Predictions: Opening win can steady England nerves
- England have kept just one clean sheet in their last five games
- Three Lions have scored 10 goals in their last five European Championship games
- Recommended bet: England to win and both teams to score
England get their Euro 2024 campaign underway on Sunday evening when they face Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.
Gareth Southgate’s squad go into the tournament as favourites to lift the trophy, with their vast pool of talent – including Europe’s top club goalscorer, Harry Kane.
England do head into the opener off the back of a shock friendly defeat to Iceland and their record in opening Euros matches makes worrying reading for their fans, so they will want a steadying opening salvo in Germany.
Team news
Former Fulham and Newcastle man Aleksandar Mitrovic could be handed a start up front for Serbia, alongside Juventus frontman Dusan Vlahovic.
It could be an attacking line-up, with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Dusan Tadic also being tipped to feature.
England are set to be without Luke Shaw, with the left-back’s hamstring injury expected to keep him out of the opening Group C encounter.
John Stones returned to training on Thursday after a sickness bug and seems certain to start in the heart of the defence.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold is being tipped to start alongside Declan Rice in the centre of midfield.
The stats
England have won their opening game just once in their last eight European Championship campaigns.
Serbia have won two of their last three internationals, with victories over Cyprus and Sweden.
Five of Serbia’s 15 goals in Euro 2024 qualifying came from headers.
Nobody had more headed attempts on goal in qualifying than Serbia, with 44 in their eight group games.
Harry Kane was the fourth top-scorer during qualifying, with the England skipper scoring eight goals from 16 attempts.
England beat Serbia 2-1 in their only previous meeting, in a friendly at the King Power Stadium, Leicester back in 2003.
Prediction
Despite a few question marks hanging over England’s selection plans and how many forward players Southgate can fit in the side, they should be good enough to make a winning start.
The fact that media pundits cannot agree on the likely Three Lions starting line-up means that Serbia will not know what to expect either.
England’s attacking options are up there with the best in the tournament and Serbia will struggle to keep them at bay.
Dragan Stojkovic’s squad do have attacking threats of their own and, in the absence of Harry Maguire, they will feel they can cause England some problems from set-pieces.
Expect Serbia to swing plenty of crosses into their opponents box – Stojkovic’s men registered 67 completed crosses in qualifying, the second highest across the European nations.
They will not have it all their own way, but England can come out on top in Gelsenkirchen.
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