England’s shot at glory
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U21’s face a must-win match vs Poland
Game of the day on Thursday from planet football sees England and Poland clash in the U21 European Championships at the Kielce City Stadion. The match will be played out in front of the Sky Sports cameras from 7.45pm.
Coral give you the chance to spice up your midweek viewing with a winning bet. Have your say on over 160 markets with us, including match winner, first goal scorer and total goals. Will England do the business?
England have made hard work of this
This goes as a real cross-roads tie for both sides. It’s a meeting of top vs bottom in the group, with England sitting at the summit on four points, their opponents in the basement on one. That could all change if the locals are able to cause an upset here though, and the sides could very well trade places.
The Three Lions may be top, but they’ve been far from convincing so far. On paper, they boast one of the most talented sides in the competition, mixing established youth with genuine wonderkids for the future, but had to settle for a goalless draw in game one vs Sweden, needing a penalty save from Pickford just to get it. They then picked up a vital win last time, beating Slovakia 2-1, but battled back from a goal down to get the result. Chrien had Slovakia ahead after just 23 minutes, before Mawson and Redmond turned the game on its head in the second-half.
Recent form doesn’t fill us with confidence
That was a much-needed win for England, but punters looking to take heart from their recent results must work hard, as England have managed just two wins from their last five, that sketchy spell showing defeat to France and Germany, as well as that draw with Sweden. If you fancy three points for England, you’ll find them priced as 4/7 favourites with Coral.
Thursday’s match will be the second recorded meeting between these sides at this level, with the pair ending 0-0 back in 2008. Clicking no in the both teams to score field will net you a handy 23/20 with us, but it’s worth knowing Poland have scored in each of their previous two games. Yes is a lot more likely, at 4/6.
Poland’s defence has been generous
Poland were expected to shine at their own competition, but if they are going to go on and win it, they’ll need to show serious improvement on their first two matches. Starting with a 2-1 loss to Slovakia, they then stumbled to a 2-2 finish with Sweden. Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem, but there’s plenty to worry about at the other end of the park, with four conceded in two games.
Poland’s challenge is expected to end here. They need the win if they are to stand any hope of going through, and will want other results to go their way too, but our traders don’t see it happening, giving as much as 4/1 on the home cheer, while a draw, which would be as sore as a defeat, is 14/5.
